(Bloomberg) -- Keir Starmer vowed to “kick-start a big build” across the UK, setting out his Labour Party's economic priorities as a counterpoint to the government's King's Speech next week after weeks of media scrutiny over internal tensions triggered by the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Starmer said if Labour were in power, he would prioritize legislation to boost skills and investment in industry and infrastructure. The King's Speech — in which the government sets out its priorities for the next year through a series of bills it plans to push through Parliament — will take place on Tuesday.
“We have to provide the businesses, communities and people of this nation, with the conditions to succeed. A fundamental deal, that we serve the country, while you drive it forward,” Starmer said Friday in Darlington, northeast England.
Sunak Says UK Election Probably Next Year, Making 2025 Unlikely
It's little over three weeks since Starmer left his party conference in Liverpool, having delivered a similar message and with widespread expectations Labour was comfortably on course to win back power at a general election expected in 2024. The opposition party still leads Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives by about 20 points in national polls, but party splits over the fighting in Gaza have posed a significant challenge to his leadership.
Despite calls from senior Labour members including London mayor Sadiq Khan for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Starmer reiterated Friday he sees a humanitarian pause as a quicker and more practical way to alleviate suffering.
“To say to a sovereign country when 200 of its civilians are being held hostage, they must give up their right to self defense, is not for me the correct position,” he said. He also said humanitarian aid needs to reach Gaza faster and called on Western nations to increase the pressure for that to happen.
Read more: Starmer Risks Hard-Won Labour Unity to Show He Can Lead UK
Starmer's speech, though, appeared to be a clear attempt to get his party re-focused on winning back power. His call for an economic renewal was also a pitch to the thousands of voters in northern England who switched allegiance from Labour to the Tories in 2019. Citing repeated broken promises over improving the key A1 road through the region, he accused Sunak's party of overseeing a “highway to British decline.”
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