Sir Keir Starmer will launch a pre-election pitch to voters, offering up six pledges in a speech in Essex today.
In a launch event at the potential electoral battleground, the Labour leader will lay out a set of “first steps” for government if Labour wins the general election.
Among its first steps “to change Britain”, Starmer’s party will aim to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times, launch a new border security command, set up publicly-owned energy firm Great British Energy, crack down on antisocial behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers.
The steps are aimed at providing “gimmick-free”, fully funded pledges to the electorate that could be implemented within the first five years of government.
Speaking ahead of today’s event, Starmer said: “These first steps make real our claim that a changed Labour Party is back in service of working people.
“They show our priorities, what we care about and what the British public cares about. Country first, party second.
“These first steps will make a real difference to people’s lives.
“If you’re waiting in pain for NHS treatment, if your child is at school and you want higher standards, if your local area is plagued by anti-social behaviour, if you want cheaper energy bills for good, these first steps show what a Labour government will do to help you.”
The proposals will be provided to voters in physical form, but Labour steered away from directly comparing this to the pledge card given out by Sir Tony Blair ahead of the 1997 general election.
The launch will also be accompanied by an advertising campaign, which a Labour spokesman billed as their largest ad spend since the previous general election.
This is set to include ad vans and billboards featuring Sir Keir Starmer alongside the six steps, as well as material in local and regional newspapers located in key battleground seats.
The Labour spokesman insisted the steps were “not the sum total” of the party’s election offer when asked whether its other promises, including a new package of workers’ rights, would be side-lined.
The spokesperson said: “I do want to stress to you the other policy commitments that we have made stand.”
“I would remind you for example… the national minimum wage was not on the pledge card in 1997, but it was one of the most important achievements of the Labour government, and in a similar vein, our manifesto will be our full offering.”
Writing in the Daily Mirror, the Opposition leader described the steps as a “down payment on change” designed to “make Britain work again for working people”.
But Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden said Labour had “no coherent plan” and described Thursday’s announcement as Starmer’s “sixteenth relaunch” that “won’t amount to a hill of beans”.
Holden added: “Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are sticking to the plan which is working to strengthen the economy – with inflation down from 11.1 per cent to 3.2 per cent and £900 back in hard-working people’s pockets – and a fair immigration system with boat crossings down.”
