British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to protect public services and ruled out austerity measures. He spoke before the annual conference of the Labor Party, which took power in July after 15 years in opposition. TASR reports according to the AFP agency.
Photo: TASR/AP, Peter Byrne
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves smile at the annual conference of Britain’s ruling Labor Party in Liverpool, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.
After months of gloomy views on the development of the British economy, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had optimistic words in the opening speech of the conference in Liverpool on Sunday. Behind the speaker’s podium was a red background with the slogan “Change Begins”.
Deputy Prime Minister Rayner is also in charge of housing and communities and in her speech she promised to “fix the foundations and put Britain back on the growth path”. In his speech, Foreign Minister David Lammy talked about Britain’s return to the global stage and steps to “reset” London’s relationship with Europe.
Ahead of the conference, Prime Minister Starmer told The Observer newspaper that his government had done “a lot more in 11 weeks than the last government probably did in 11 years”. He has ambitious goals in the field of house building, plans to establish a publicly owned investment body for green energy and recruit police officers and teachers. He reiterated that he would “make sure our public services work properly” and protect working people from tax increases.
In a speech, Rayner announced a “historic” overhaul of employment law to be brought to parliament next month, including a rise in the minimum wage.
The party conference provides a much-needed boost to Labour’s morale after a period dominated by negative headlines for Starmer. Over the weekend, the anti-immigration party Reform UK also held a conference in Birmingham, which had a record 14 percent of the vote in the July elections and was prevented from gaining a stronger representation in parliament only by the majority voting system in Britain.
The Conservatives will hold their conference next week amid disputes over the party’s leadership and direction.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
