In his first major speech as Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer will warn that life in Britain will “get worse” before it gets better.
Sir Keir will continue his attacks on the previous government a week before Parliament returns after its shortened summer recess, saying things are “worse than we ever imagined”.
In his remarks on Tuesday, the Prime Minister will say that he and his ministers “have inherited not just an economic black hole, but a social black hole. And that is why we must act and do things differently.”
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“Hunt lied about the state of public finances”
“It also means being honest with people about the choices we face. And about how hard it’s going to be. Frankly, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
Sir Keir will say the financial situation is “worse than we ever imagined” and reiterates Chancellor Rachel Reeves claims that Rishi Sunak’s The Conservatives have left a £22 billion black hole in this year’s budget.
He will say: ‘In the first few weeks we have discovered a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. And no-one should say that this is just an act or a political game.
“The OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) didn’t know about it. They wrote a letter explaining it. They didn’t know – because the last government covered it up.”
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Sir Keir will say that under the Tories, who have been in power since 2010, there have been “14 years of populism and failure”. This has enabled those involved in the recent riots to “exploit the fissures in our society”.
One of the first Labour government policies was to reduce the proportion of sentences that offenders have to spend in prison before being eligible for parole.
Ministers said this was necessary because prison capacity had been almost completely exhausted under the previous government.
Earlier this week, the government Operation: Early Dawn – This means that defendants could be held in police cells for longer until space becomes available in prison.
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In his speech, Sir Keir will say: “Not having enough prison places is as fundamental a failure as it gets. And these people throwing stones, setting cars on fire, making threats – they didn’t just know the system was broken. They gambled on it. They exploited it.”
The Prime Minister will argue that change will not happen “overnight”. He is also expected to say Labour has achieved “more in seven weeks than the last government did in seven years”. This includes setting up a National Wealth Fund, changing planning policy to build more homes and ending public sector strikes.
Conservative Party leader Richard Fuller MP said: “After just two months, Keir Starmer has cut winter benefits for tens of millions of pensioners, showered his union payers with billions of taxpayers’ money and is now embroiled in a cronyism scandal after catapulting donors and supporters into top jobs funded by taxpayers’ money.”
“The soft-spoken Labour Chancellor is wasting money and creating a financial black hole to trick the public into accepting tax rises, leaving pensioners literally out in the cold.
“The Prime Minister should really tell his Chancellor to change course or intervene himself to reverse her decision.”
Sir Keir’s speech comes ahead of a potentially difficult period for the Government as it prepares its first Budget, due on October 30.
