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As Sir Keir Starmer led the first full day of the new Labour government, he delivered a press conference addressing the nation as the new prime minister.
Setting out his first steps to lead the country, he promised not to raise taxes to fund the “broken” NHS and labelled the previous government’s Rwanda scheme a gimmick that was “dead and buried before it started”.
He made a raft of appointments on his first day in Downing Street, including Rachel Reeves as Britain’s first female chancellor and David Lammy as foreign secretary, who called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The party won one of the biggest parliamentary majorities in history, with 412 seats — a majority of 176.
After the Conservative Party’s defeat, with just 121 seats, preparations are under way for a leadership contest, with Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, and Priti Patel all tipped as potential contenders to replace Rishi Sunak.
Key Points
- Sir Keir Starmer declares ’Rwanda is dead and buried’
- Prime minister to visit all four nations of UK starting tomorrow
- Streeting declares ‘we’re getting to work’ after cabinet meeting
- Defence secretary vows to ‘make Britain secure at home and strong abroad'
- Jeremy Hunt rules out leadership bid declaring ‘time has passed'
- Farage calls press conference protest ‘theatre'
Pinned: Sir Keir Starmer’s key takeaways from prime ministerial press conference
Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled his next steps as leader and plan for the first 100 days. During the press conference he:
- Confirmed he would be visiting all four UK nations and would meet all metro mayors across the country this week.
- Vowed to end “tribal politics” and govern under the mantra of “country first”, adding: “Self-interest is yesterday’s politics. I want a politics in this country that works for you.”
- Claimed he is “restless for change” as he was asked how soon he can deliver concrete improvements, and promised to “govern for the whole country”.
- Warned his government will “have to take the tough decisions, and take them early” when asked whether he would be willing to raise tax to fund public services.
- Promised to end “gimmicks” such as the Rwanda scheme, adding that Rishi Sunak’s plan to deport asylum seekers to the African country was “dead and buried” before it even started.
New Defence Secretary John Healey stressed his mission to “make Britain secure at home and strong abroad” as he addressed the Ministry of Defence for the first time.
He told Armed Forces and civilian staff: “We know these are serious times – war in Europe, conflict in the Middle East, growing Russian aggression, increasing global threats. We know there are serious problems – with our Armed Forces hollowed out and underfunded for 14 years.
“And this Government now is totally committed to 2.5% of defence spending, to Nato, to the nuclear deterrent and to support for Ukraine.
“The country has new leadership. This ministry has new leadership. Our mission is to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad, with the guiding principle of one defence.
“Because it isn’t just those who serve in uniform who defend this country, it’s those of you who serve in the Civil Service, who work on the production line, who staff the research labs, who develop software – and I want to see defence at the heart both of the future security of this country and the future success of this country.
“And that means an Armed Forces well-equipped and ready to fight, a skilled, scalable industrial base, a stronger relationship with allies, a more influential MoD, a public that understands and better supports, those who are willing to serve – those whose service is the ultimate form of public service.”
Keir Starmer congratulated by world leaders
As Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s calls with world leaders continued, he spoke to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, this morning.
“The leaders exchanged congratulations on their respective election wins, and reflected on the strength of the relationship between the UK and India.
“The Prime Minister said he looked forward to further deepening the strong and respectful relationship between both countries, and welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s leadership on key global challenges, such as climate change and economic growth.
“Discussing the importance of the living bridge between the UK and India, and the 2030 roadmap, the leaders agreed there was a wide range of areas across defence and security, critical and emerging technology, and climate change, for the two countries to deepen co-operation on.
“Discussing the free trade agreement, the Prime Minister said he stood ready to conclude a deal that worked for both sides. The leaders hoped to meet at the earliest opportunity.”
Salma Ouaguira6 July 2024 22:40 1720300832Tory reveals reason party got general election wrong
Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who was part of John Major’s cabinet, has revealed where the general election went wrong for Rishi Sunak.
The former foreign secretary believes his party needed to remember its heritage on the “centre right”.
He said: “We’ve got to remember the centre as well as the right.” He added the party needs to choose a new leader who would lead from the “centre right”.
Mr Rifkind also said party memberships should have less power in choosing their chief and giving paid up members more say caused chaos under Jeremy Corbyn, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in the Commons.
It comes as the Tories are preparing to hold a leadership contest with Jeremy Hunt ruling himself out of the race.
Angela Rayner becomes one of Britain’s most powerful women
Angela Rayner is now a woman to watch out for after being handed her own department as secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, taking over from Michael Gove.
She has also been appointed the deputy of Sir Keir Starmer, only the second woman to hold the role after Therese Coffey in Liz Truss’s 49-day government.
Ms Rayner will mirror the role of John Prescott who was Tony Blair’s deputy and also in charge of the department for local government and development.
The cabinet minister has also an extraordinary background. Born in Stockport, she was brought up on a council estate and left schoold at 16 with no qualifications and pregnant with her first son.
Speaking to the Financial Times, she previously said: “When I was young, we didn’t have books because my mother couldn’t read or write.”
When she entered parliament in 2015, she became the first woman MP in the 180-year history of Ashton-under-Lyne.
Blair’s aide warns Starmer about taking over Number 10
Alastair Campbell, who was Tony Blair’s press secretary during Labour’s 1997 landslide, has warned the new prime minister about his new life in No 10 ahead of his first cabinet meeting.
The former aide said Sir Keir Starmer and the new cabinet will “take time to adjust” to the pace of Downing Street and transition from campaign mode to being in government.
He said: “You have to go from the campaign, where you’ve been making promises for change, and then you’ve got to deliver them.
“In these early days, a new government has an awful lot of good will, a lot of momentum, a lot of energy, a lot of excitement within the government machine - and you’ve got to exploit that.”
Salma Ouaguira6 July 2024 21:40 1720297800
Editorial: Starmer has ambition but the next few years will be hard going
There will be crises, unpopularity and the rise of Reform and the Greens:
Editorial: Starmer has plenty of ambition, but the next few years will be hard going
Editorial: Sir Keir Starmer promised change and he seems to mean it, but he needs a strong team around him to navigate the challenges to come
Jane Dalton6 July 2024 21:30 1720297232The 2024 general election in numbers
The dust has mostly settled on this year’s UK general election, with the polls closing at 10pm on Thursday and virtually all votes counted overnight*.
Labour has secured a historic win with a significant majority – though less than some polls predicted – while the Conservatives have suffered their lowest-ever number of seats since 1832.
But with some surprising twists and dramatic seats on knife-edge losses, let’s dive into the election by numbers.
The Independent’s data correspondent Alicja Hagopian has the full story:
The 2024 general election in numbers: From history-making results to huge vote swings
The Independent’s data correspondent looks at last night’s shock figures, from the closest seats to the biggest swings
Salma Ouaguira6 July 2024 21:20 1720296653Jacqui Smith to be made a peer
Former home secretary Jacqui Smith has been appointed as an education and will be made a peer, Downing Street has announced.
Ms Smith previously served in Gordon Brown’s sabinet.
Ellie Reeves, the sister of Rachel Reeves, has been made a Cabinet Office minister, Dan Jarvis a Home Office minister, and Jim McMahon and Matthew Pennycook ministers in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Douglas Alexander has been made a business minister.
Andre Langlois6 July 2024 21:10 1720296032Lib Dems claim party’s historic win thanks to disaffected voters
Education spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Munira Wilson, acknowledged the party benefited from voters wanting to turf out a Conservative government.
The Twickenham MP told Sky News: “We were very clear that after the previous Conservative government, which was frankly full of chaos and incompetence and had broken the trust of the British people and broken our economy, time was up for them and in many of those seats where we won we made it very clear to voters that if they wanted to turf out the Tories they had to vote Liberal Democrat and they did.
“So obviously in every election it’s a combination of the two, but I am also confident that our messages around cost-of-living, sewage, health and care did really resonate with voters.”
Ms Wilson also told the broadcaster that the Conservatives will be “tearing themselves apart” working out a new leader and what direction they are going in, but Lib Dem MPs will be “focused” on being an opposition party.
She said: “It’s really important for the British people that there are opposition MPs asking tough questions and scrutinising the legislation that Labour are going to bring forward, and I can assure you that every Liberal Democrat MP in the House of Commons will be doing that and will be focused on the job and not worried about where the party’s going.”
She told Sky News the Lib Dems surpassed everyone’s expectations, “including my own”, and that the party hopes to bring its record number of MPs up from 71 to 72 after the recount in the final seat to declare – Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire.
Salma Ouaguira6 July 2024 21:00 Newer1 / 9OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
