LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is trying to change the narrative of his five-month-old government after approval ratings collapsed, the economy fears tax hikes and protesting farmers clog London streets.
Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch calls it an “emergency reset” for a faltering government.
But Starmer’s office says the “plan for change” speech the prime minister will give on Thursday is not a up-to-date beginning or a U-turn, but rather “the next phase” of his government plan, designed to convince voters that the government is committed to it Lives improved.
Starmer’s center-left Labor Party was elected in July – ending 14 years of Conservative government – on a promise to spur Britain’s sluggish economy to growth and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service. But it has been criticized, including by Labor supporters, for failing to show people how their lives will improve in the foreseeable future.
The speech sets out “milestones” to measure progress on economic growth, tidy energy, childcare and education reform, strengthening the NHS and cutting crime. It includes a commitment to deploy 13,000 more neighborhood police officers within five years.
Starmer’s office said he would say that “hard-working Brits… reasonably want a stable economy, a safe country, secure borders, more cash in their pockets, safer streets in their city, opportunities for their children and safe Brits.” Energy in their home and an NHS that is there when they need it.”
The government is hoping to reverse a series of negative headlines about its economic decisions – which were made because the previous Conservative government left a 22 billion pound ($28 billion) “black hole” in the public finances .
The spending cuts included the scrapping of a payment for millions of pensioners intended to support cover winter heating costs – a move that came with revelations that Starmer had accepted clothing and other free gifts at a time when millions of people are struggling struggling with the cost of living was unpleasant
The government’s first budget in overdue October included billions in up-to-date money for the health system, but also increased a tax paid by employers, worrying many businesses, and imposed an inheritance tax on farmers for the first time in decades.
Thousands of farmers flocked to the streets around Parliament in November to protest against a levy they say would devastate many family farms. The government says three quarters of farms will not have to pay inheritance tax under the up-to-date rules.
Starmer also lost a member of his cabinet last week when Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned over an ancient fraud conviction relating to a mobile phone she reported stolen.
The bad news has sent Starmer’s poll numbers deep into negative territory – even though the opposition Conservatives are no longer popular.
Starmer has had more success abroad, where he is trying to reset Britain’s relations with its European neighbors after years of acrimony over Brexit. But efforts to move closer to the bloc risk angering up-to-date President Donald Trump, who is hostile to the EU and has threatened to impose tariffs on European goods.
Members of Starmer’s government have heavily criticized Trump in the past, but the Labor government has worked to build relationships with the president-elect. Before the US election, Starmer flew to New York for dinner with the then Republican presidential candidate.
“When President Trump graciously invited me to dinner at Trump Tower, I told him that in the coming years we will invest more than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends,” Starmer said in a foreign policy speech on Monday.
Starmer rejected the idea “that we have to choose between our allies, that we are somehow either on the side of America or Europe.”
“The national interest requires that we work with both,” he said.
