Starmer giving his speech on Monday. His position has come under increasing pressure since disastrous May election results. Photograph: James Manning/PAView image in fullscreenStarmer giving his speech on Monday. His position has come under increasing pressure since disastrous May election results. Photograph: James Manning/PAKeir Starmer vows to prove doubters wrong in make-or-break leadership speechPM makes series of policy pledges including seeking new deal with EU and says he will fight any challenge
Who are the main threats to Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership?
Keir Starmer has said he will prove his doubters wrong as he warned Labour was facing “very dangerous opponents” in a make-or-break speech, with leadership rivals on the brink of a challenge.
Starmer said he would fight any leadership challenge and would not “walk away” from his responsibilities as prime minister.
He promised he would seek a new deal with the EU including a sweeping youth mobility scheme, as well as nationalising British steel and promising a beefed-up youth guarantee of jobs and apprenticeships.
But he warned his critics in the party they risked opening the door to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and said it was time to take a more robust approach to the right.
Read more“We are not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents, very dangerous opponents,” he said, saying Labour was the last defence against the country heading down a “very dark path”.
He said he would ban “far-right agitators” from coming to Britain to speak at a nationalist march on Saturday. “This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation, and I want to be crystal clear about how we will win, because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens,” he said. “We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest.”
Labour MPs have said they believe the health secretary, Wes Streeting, could imminently launch a leadership challenge. Allies of Streeting have denied he will move against the prime minister – and said he would only plan to stand if a leadership race was launched by another candidate.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is also hoping to be able to find a new byelection seat for him to return to parliament to seek the leadership – but he could be blocked again by Labour’s national executive committee.
Starmer said he was not prepared to resign because of the turmoil a leadership challenge would inflict on the country. “I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did time and again, chaos that did lasting damage to this country,” he said. “A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.
“I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain, frustrated by politics, and some people are frustrated with me. I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.”
The prime minister also admitted he believed Labour should not have begun its time in office with gloomy messaging. “We inherited a terrible legacy from the last government, economically, public services, the NHS on its knees, and what we found when we got into government was even worse that we feared.
“And one of the mistakes I think we made was we wanted to level with the country about how bad things were, but we didn’t convince people enough in that early period of the change that we would bring about why their lives would be better, and that’s why we have to change that and inject much more hope and optimism into what we are saying.”
Starmer said he knew now that Labour needed “a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024 because these are not ordinary times” and that people needed to see a greater vision as well as delivery.
“That’s not enough, clearly, for the British people. Tired of a status quo that has failed, change cannot come quickly enough,” he said. “I’m not sure they believe that we see their lives. That’s tough to say, when you come from a working class background like me, it’s hard to hear that, because I do know it is like to struggle and to strive.”
Starmer said he was announcing three immediate priorities:
British Steel would be formally nationalised this week by legislation.
A new, wide-ranging deal with the EU including an ambitious youth mobility scheme.
A guaranteed offer of a job training or work placement for young people.
Starmer attacked Farage’s promises on Brexit, which he said had been proved false. “He said it would make us richer. Wrong. It made us poorer. He said it would reduce migration. Wrong. Migration went through the roof. He said it would make us more secure. Wrong again,” he said.
“It made us weaker. He took Britain for a ride, and unlike the Tories, actually, or at least had to face up to it, he just fled the scene. And now he’ll talk about almost anything other than the consequences of the one policy he actually delivered. Because he’s not just a grifter, he is a chancer.”
He said the EU summit in June would set “a new direction for Britain b… The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe. This Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain but the heart of Europe.
“That is the right choice for Britain, that is the Labour choice. I want an ambitious youth experience scheme to be at the heart or our arrangement with the EU, so that our young people can work and study and live in Europe, a symbol of a stronger relationship and a fairer future with our closest allies.”
He said the deal in June that Labour would seek would be “a big leap forward … take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence and security, and that will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.”
