LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Prime Minister Keir Starmer will appeal to voters on Tuesday to stick with his plans for Britain, saying tough decisions in the short-term would pave the way for gains in the future such as higher living standards, safer streets and better services.
Addressing his Labour Party’s annual conference in the northern English city of Liverpool, Starmer will try to persuade a politics-weary population he has a plan to turn Britain around in the long-term by tackling overdue problems.
He will warn the remedy for Britain’s many ills will mean his government taking difficult decisions, such as the cut to winter fuel payments for pensioners that has drawn criticism from across the nation and within his party.
But he will say in the long-term Britain will be unrecognisable, with a growing economy helping to lift living standards, reduce waiting lists for public health services, and offer more opportunities to the next generations.
“The politics of national renewal are collective. They involve a shared struggle,” Starmer will tell the conference according to extracts from his speech.
“A project that says, to everyone, this will be tough in the short-term, but in the long-term – it’s the right thing to do for our country. And we all benefit from that.”
It is a more hopeful message than the gloomy narrative Starmer and his team have adopted since winning power in a July landslide election, when ministers repeatedly complained that the inheritance left by the former Conservative government meant they could not immediately spend money to solve problems.
Dogged by criticism over the winter fuel payments cuts and by a dispute over the use of donations, Starmer will want to reset a conference which has not been the celebration supporters and members had expected after Labour returned to power.
Following his finance minister Rachel Reeves’ speech on Monday, when she said her “optimism for Britain burns brighter than ever”, Starmer will point to “that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you”.
After moving the Labour Party towards the centre of British politics after it lurched to the left under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer will say he will similarly change Britain.
“But I will not do it with easy answers. I will not do it with false hope,” he will say. “Make no mistake, the work of change has begun … And we’re only just getting started.”
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mark Potter)
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