Good Afternoon sense-ibles,
Yesterday was Sir Kier Starmer’s speech at the Labour party conference. I, like many watched with keen interest to really try and work out what would change after Labours worth defeat since the 1970s in the last general election. How did the speech go and land? Well, it’s mixed.
Sir Keir Starmer deliberately took his time to spell out his vision to voters that Labour has lost.
In an effort to connect with them, he spoke in personal terms about his parents and their influence on his political beliefs, revealing more about what drives him. This is something people have often criticised him for. Lacking a core and being pretty low energy. He tackled this head-on.
Persistent hecklers in the hall were a reminder that support for Sir Keir within Labour is far from unanimous, but they may not hurt his attempt to show he's closing the door on the Corbyn era. There were some policy announcements, but the main message to voters was an appeal to look again at Labour after four election defeats in a row.
The speech was also a challenge from Sir Keir to his party to change if wants to win again.
It was the longest, most detailed argument he has yet made that he is the man to lead it back into Downing Street.
He announced that a Labour government would upgrade 19 million homes so that they reach a minimum "Band-C" energy efficiency level, providing grants for low-income households to achieve this and low-interest loans for others.
The changes would include better insulation, double glazing and new heating systems, saving households £400 a year in bills on average, he promised.
Other pledges in the speech included:
Providing mental treatment within a month for all people in England who require it
Creating 8,500 more specialist mental health staff, providing an extra million people a year with help
Training "thousands" of extra teachers in England - his aides did not provide a more specific figure
Reforming the inspection body Ofsted to focus more on improving struggling schools
"I can see the ways in which we can remake this nation and that's what we get to do when we win," Sir Keir said.
"So let's get totally serious about this - we can win the next election."
Sir Keir's speech ended a five-day conference which saw him get backing for changes to the way the party elects its leaders, against fierce opposition from the left, who feel they are being marginalised.
It’s hard to call the speech or conference at that a rousing success. Every week, it seems as if Sir Kier Starmer is handed another government failure on which he should be able to mount a convincing argument. He just always falls short. This was another conference that seemed a step in the right direction but still short of what a government in waiting ought to look like.
M.T. Omoniyi — Editor-In-Chief
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