UK Labour leader Starmer puts wealth creation at heart of election offer

British opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer put wealth creation at the heart of his pitch to voters on Thursday, promising to provide political and economic stability to help businesses reignite economic growth.

With three weeks to go before an election that polls say he is on course to win, Mr Starmer launched a blueprint for government that signalled, if elected, he would govern more in the mould of Labour’s former leader Tony Blair, and not that of his predecessor, the veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn.

His manifesto marked a clear break from Labour’s long-held image of being a “tax and spend” party – potentially alienating those on the left of the party – and Mr Starmer said he would focus on tackling structural problems around planning and housing to drive private investment.

“This is a manifesto for wealth creation – that is our number one priority,” he told an audience in Manchester, northern England. “The mandate we seek from Britain at this election is for economic growth.”

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“This changed Labour Party has a plan for growth. We are pro-business and pro-worker. The party of wealth creation.”

He said the country now needed stability in reference to prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, who have spent 14 years in power, with many of them marked by political instability as the country left the European Union.

“Stability over chaos, long term over short term, an end to the desperate era of gestures and gimmicks, and a return to the serious business of rebuilding our country,” he said.

After a years-long business charm offensive, Mr Starmer’s message is part of his bid to convince voters that Labour has changed since being led by Mr Corbyn, who presided over the party’s worst defeat for 84 years in 2019.

Starmer said he would increase the tax take by more than £8 billion (€9.5 billion), helped by a clampdown on tax avoidance and new measures targeting private schools, private equity, energy companies and individuals with non-domiciled tax status.

He has said the party will not raise taxes on workers as he and finance policy chief Rachel Reeves navigate how to revive an economy that is weighed down by taxes at a 70-year high and debt levels that are equivalent to 90 per cent of economic output.

The Labour manifesto comes just two days after Mr Sunak proposed £17 billion of tax cuts in his Conservative manifesto, something that was dismissed by Labour as a “desperate, unfunded wishlist”.

Mr Starmer has dragged Labour to the centre-ground and his team now repeats its stance that it will stick to strict spending rules, with Reeves describing her approach as one set “on the basis of iron discipline”.

Concerned about losing its poll lead of about 20 percentage points over the Conservatives, Labour has been cautious in its approach to the election campaign. It has refused to be swayed by arguments even from within the party to be bolder with its offering, instead sticking to its core policies.

Some voters, business leaders and critics say that approach has meant that they have little clarity on the detail of what the party will offer in some of its biggest policy areas, such as its strategy to spur investment in tackling climate change.

– Reuters