Starmer says need for ‘tough decisions’ on spending will include public sector payStarmer suggests the government’s commitment to financial stability means future sector pay rises won’t be over-generous. He says:
I do have to make clear, from a place of respect, that this government will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances.
And, with tough decisions on the horizon, pay will inevitably be shaped by that.
I owe you that candour because – as was so painfully exposed by the last government – when you lose control of the economy it’s working people who pay the price.
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Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, has welcomed what Keir Starmer said in his speech to its confererence. He said:
The prime minister set out an ambitious and very different vision for Britain to the chaos and division of the last 14 years.
A Britain where unions, business and government work together to deliver for working people and the common good. A Britain where everyone is treated with dignity and respect at work. A Britain where work pays for all.
Unions stand ready to roll up our sleeves to help repair and rebuild this country.
Keir Starmer speaking at the TUC congress. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PAAfter justice questions in the Commons, there is a statement on Ukraine. That means the debate on winter fuel payments will not start until around 1.30pm, with the vote likely at around 3pm.
Starmer says child poverty ‘far too high’ and scrapping two-child benefit cap on its own would not solve problemThis is what Keir Starmer said in full when he was asked in the Q&A (see 11.33am) about child poverty, and the government failure’s to get rid of the two-child poverty cap, the Tory welfare policy which is a major cause of child poverty.
Although he did not have anything to announce, he spoke with a level of seriousness and conviction that seemed to go down quite well in the hall.
He said child poverty was “far too high” and that he was determined to bring it down. (It is 30%, meaning 4.3 million children grow up in relative poverty, according to the most recent figures.)
But he also implied that simply getting rid of the two-child benefit rule would not be enough to solve the problem on its own, because the underlying causes had to be addressed.
He said:
Alan, thank you for raising the question of child poverty. It is a really important issue, as you know, as the whole of congress knows, and it matters to this government.
Obviously we’ve had to take difficult decisions given the economic circumstances we’re in, for reasons that I have explained.
But that does not diminish, to answer your question directly, our absolute determination in relation to child poverty. It’s far too high. It is our responsibility to bring it down.
We’ve already obviously set up a task force, but that has to get to the underlying causes as well. This isn’t an issue that can be solved just by one adjustment in welfare, frankly. It’s about housing, it’s about education, it’s about wages, it’s about conditions in which people live, health, mental health. All of that has to be addressed, and we are determined to address it, and are already addressing it.
Because just as the last Labour government brought child poverty right down, so will this government. We’ll will work with you and others and everybody in the room to make sure that we make good on that commitment because it is so important to us.
Keir Starmer speaking at the TUC conference. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty ImagesJane Jones, president of Usdaw, asks what the government will do to ensure that shopworkers feel safe at work.
Starmer says the extent of violence against shop workers is shocking. He says Paddy Lillis, the Usdaw general secretary, raises it with him almost every time they meet, “rightly”. It is unacceptable and demoralising. That is why it is right to make that a specific offence, he says.
And that’s the end of the Q&A.
Alan Crosbie, a teacher who is national president of The Educational Institute of Scotland, says Labour has not scrapped the two-child benefit cap, which is pushing children into poverty. What is the government doing to tackle child poverty.
Starmer says he has an “absolute determination” to reduce child poverty.
Helen, from the Prospect union, who works in defence, asks what the government will do to make the workplace safe for women. She says a survey of civilian women working in the Ministry of Defence found 60% of them had suffered sexual harassment.
Starmer says that is a shocking figure. Reducing sexual harassment and violence against women and girls is one of his mission priorities, he says.
Sonia, a school support worker from the GMB, says she welcomes Labour’s plan to reinstate the negotiating body for school support body. Will the government end the scandal of term-time only contracts.
Starmer says reinstating the negotiating body is really important. He wants every child to get a first-class education, and that includes support staff.
David, a Unite worker in the health sector, says Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said in her speech yesterday investment rates in UK industry are the lowest in the G7. How can Britain get good quality jobs without more investment?
Starmer says this is an important issue. It is why the government wants stability – because that will encourage investment. He says he wants growth, but in every part of the country.
He says he does not just want growth in some parts of the country, with redistribution as the means to help other parts. He wants growth everywhere.
Starmer is now taking questions.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, says he will take six questions, in batches of three.
Julia, a Unison care workers, says social care has suffered terribly under the Tories. Far-reaching reform cannot happen overnight. But will the PM restate his commitment to a national care service? And will he made sure this happens more quickly?
Starmer says his sister is a care worker. It is hugely important to make a commitment to a national care service. That starts with the staff, he says. Many people are leaving care because they don’t like the conditions. That is why Labour will impose a far pay agreement starting in the care sector.
Starmer is now using the passage about the politics of partnership. (See 10.59am.)
And he ends by saying there are no easy answers.
The crisis we have inherited means we must go deep into the marrow of our institutions, rewrite the rules of our economy and fix the foundations so we can build a new home. A country where growth not only comes from the enterprise of working people, but where growth serves the interests of working people. Living standards rising, not just because we are redistributing from prosperous parts of the country but because we are growing the economy in every community. That is our mission.
Because economic rules written in the ink of partnership will be more durable and long-lasting – whoever is in power. So it is time to turn the page, business and unions, the private and public sector, united by a common cause to rebuild our public services and grow our economy in a new way. Higher growth, higher wages, higher productivity. The shared purpose of partnership as the path through the mess the Tories made, and onwards to national renewal.
We will keep to the course of change, reject the snake oil of easy answers, fix the foundations of our economy and build a new Britain. More secure, more prosperous, more dynamic, and fairer. A country renewed and returned, calmly but with confidence, to the service of working people.
Starmer says need for ‘tough decisions’ on spending will include public sector payStarmer suggests the government’s commitment to financial stability means future sector pay rises won’t be over-generous. He says:
I do have to make clear, from a place of respect, that this government will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances.
And, with tough decisions on the horizon, pay will inevitably be shaped by that.
I owe you that candour because – as was so painfully exposed by the last government – when you lose control of the economy it’s working people who pay the price.
Starmer says he ran for election a leader of a changed Labour party, and will govern as a changed Labour party.
And that is why he makes “no apologies” for taking difficult decisons. Britain needs “a new path on growth”, he says. He goes on:
Let me tell you what is anti growth – an economy where real wages stagnated for 15 years, that’s anti growth.
An economy where productivity keeps on flatlining, that’s anti growth.
An economy where the state of our public services prevents people going to work because they’re ill, that’s anti growth.
And so I won’t take lectures from the Tories … who complain every time this government tries to undo the damage that they have done, clinging desperately to the failed model of the past.
And nor will I take seriously the complaints of people who … faced with the same difficult problems, chose to run away from the responsibility of fixing them, a party that allowed the politics of easy answers and distraction to become their comfort zone.
Starmer says Labour planning ‘biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in generation’Starmer says the service of working people will be the government’s “anchor”. They will be the people he holds in his “mind’s eye” as he makes decisions. He goes on:
That is why we have already reformed the remit of the Low Pay Commission to take account of the cost of living and deliver a real living wage. It is why we have launched a new national wealth fund to invest in the critical infrastructure our industries need and drive growth into every community.
It’s why we’ve unlocked solar and onshore wind, started bringing rail back into public ownership, committed to a proper industrial strategy, switched on Great British energy, and begun, in partnership with you and business, the biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in a generation.
Keir Starmer addressing the TUC conference in Brighton. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty ImagesStarmer says he has to be honest with people about how hard it will be to sort out the problems left by the last government.
I have to level with you, as I did on the steps of Downing Street just over two months ago, this will take a while. It will be hard. But just as we had to do the hard graft of change in our party now we have to roll up our sleeves and change our country.
When we finally saw the books, and with trust in politics so low, I had to be honest with the British people when standing in the full sunlight of democracy, I owed it to them to promise only what we knew we could deliver.
And yet even in our worst fears we didn’t think it would be this bad. The pollution in our rivers, the overcrowding in our prisons, so much of our crumbling public realm – universities, councils, the care system, all even worse than we expected. Millions of pounds wasted on a Rwanda scheme that they knew would never work. Politics reduced to an expensive, divisive, noisy performance, a game to be played and not the force that can fundamentally change the lives of those we represent.
Starmer thanks working people and trade unionists for holding ‘social fabric’ of UK together during 14 years of ToriesStarmer says Tory leaders used to lecture Labour MPs about “what working people want”, without having the “common decency” to come to the TUC and hear what unions had to say.
That era is over, he says.
He thinks trade unionists for their contribution to Labour’s election victory.
But he says he also wants to thank them for holding the “social fabric” of Britain together.
Even more importantly, I’d like to thank every one of you who held the social fabric of this country together through 14 years where it came under relentless attack – the cleaners, the carers, the nurses, physios, shop workers, drivers, builders, cooks … farmers, retailers, warehouse workers, technicians, teachers and teaching assistants, I could go on the working people – who got us through the pandemic and so much more, the backbone of this country.
Starmer is speaking now.
He says he is the first PM to address the TUC conference since 2009 (when Gordon Brown was prime minister).