Keir Starmer MP: speeches

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Speeches

20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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It does so in two ways. It makes permanent the energy chapter in the current deal, and it goes beyond that to allow us to co-operate and co-ordinate more closely on energy; we have the ability for connection already, but we can now take better advantage of it.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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I endorse my hon. Friend’s comments, and we will go at pace to move on the commitments we made yesterday.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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I agree wholeheartedly. It has to benefit all our young people, whether through work, travel or study, and we will make sure that it does. We want to provide young people with this important opportunity and help them to take advantage of it.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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I think last week I was overly rude and I apologise. I do respect the right hon. Member, and she makes a serious point. We are now outside the EU. We had red lines in our manifesto on the single market. We have kept to those red lines and delivered a very good deal.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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We are already aligned. We are in alignment; we are just not getting the benefit of it. This deal gives us the benefit, which will be counted in business, jobs and bills. In relation to an independent arbiter, under this agreement there is independent arbitration where there are disputes.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend puts her finger on it. Under the Tories’ deal, there was huge bureaucracy, huge red tape, huge cost to businesses. The reason businesses have come out to support this deal in huge numbers is because they know it will make life better for them, improve their business opportunities, and drive our economy forward.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Gentleman. On SPS, we have taken that step—the red tape goes—but we do want to reduce trade barriers wherever we can, both with the EU and with anywhere else, frankly. At a time when we are moving into a new era on trade and the economy—we certainly are—we need to reduce trade barriers across the country for the reasons we set out.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend. We will move at pace on all fronts. It is important that young people have those opportunities.
20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the red tape having such an impact on our small businesses. That is why I am pleased that we have made progress. We now need to make further progress as quickly as we can to ensure that businesses thrive in the markets in which they want to trade.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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May I extend my thoughts to Victor and the awful circumstances that the hon. Lady describes, which must be extremely challenging. We do have to reform the system because it is not working—I think there is general agreement about that—but the principles must be clear: we protect and secure those in need of protection and security; we help those who can work into work; and we believe that those who can work should work. We have to reform the current system to make it better, because what we have does not work.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Yes, the belief that she talks rubbish. Mr Speaker— [ Interruption. ] Mr Speaker, I want to lead a country where we pull together and walk into the future as neighbours and as communities, not as strangers. The loss of control of migration by the last Government put all that at risk, and that is why we are fixing the system based on principles of control, selection and fairness.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend; he has been a dedicated campaigner on this issue for a very long time. As he knows, 14 years of mismanagement by the Conservative party left councils on their knees, with a total failure to improve and update how councils are funded. Through £69 billion of funding this year and the upcoming multi-year settlement—the first in over a decade—we will give councils far greater certainty and stability. Our detailed funding review will create a fairer system to make sure that his constituents see strong, affordable local services.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising this issue, which must be of concern. I am not across the details at this stage, but I will make sure that he gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to get to the bottom of the issue.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Let us be clear what the parties opposite voted against. Stronger statutory sick pay—they voted against. The right to guaranteed hours—they voted against. Protection from unfair dismissal—they voted against. Stronger protection for pregnant mothers—they voted against. A package worth £600 to the poorest workers in insecure work—they voted against. We are backing British workers; they vote against them at every turn.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Only a few years ago, dealing with the climate challenge was a shared endeavour across this House. It is yet further evidence of how far the Conservatives have fallen that they cannot see the significance and importance of tackling one of the major challenges of our time. I think we should rise to that challenge, not be defeatist about it. It is further evidence, as far as I can see, that the Tory project is just finished.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for raising this crucial issue. I know that Members across House will have their own personal and tragic experiences of suicide. We have launched a call for evidence on our men’s health strategy, which will improve men’s health in all parts of the country, including tackling devastatingly high suicide rates. We are also investing £26 million in new mental health crisis centres, funding talking therapies for 380,000 more people and recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Nobody wants to see job losses, but the right hon. Lady must be the only person left in the country who thinks that the economy was booming after the last Government. We have created new jobs, record investment and trade deals. The last Government tried to do the India deal for, I think, eight years and failed—we did that deal. They talked about a US deal—we did that deal. We also intend to get a stronger relationship with the EU. This former Trade Minister must be the only former Trade Minister who is against all trade deals that boost our economy. She says she is against the India deal, even though it contains the same provisions that she put on the table; she is against the US deal, even though it saves thousands of jobs in car manufacturing; and most absurdly, she says she is going to rip up the EU deal when she has not even seen what is on the page. The Opposition have been reduced to this brain-rot: a once great political party is sliding into brain-dead oblivion.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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The right hon. Lady says we should listen; she should listen to business—it is in favour of our trade deals. The India deal is a fantastic deal, with tariffs on cars cut to 10%, tariffs halved on whisky and gin, and £4.8 billion coming into our economy. What does she say she would do with the India deal? She wants to rip it up. The US deal saves thousands upon thousands of jobs. What does she want to do? She wants to rip it up. The EU deal will be good for our economy. She is not even going to wait to see what it says; she absurdly says she is going to rip it up. It is so unserious. She was even reduced last week to accusing the Indian Government of fake news—no wonder she did so badly as a Trade Secretary. The project for the Conservatives is over. They are sliding into oblivion; they are a dead party walking.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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May I pay tribute to Roy Stone as well, and the service that was given to us in various capacities? I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her words about the attacks on me and my family, and many others for their kind messages in the past few days. The Leader of the Opposition messaged me pretty well straightaway, which I really do appreciate. She is absolutely right that it was an attack on all of us, on democracy and on the values that we stand for. The right hon. Lady comes here every week to talk the country down. We have got 200,000 new jobs, record investment and four interest rates cuts—contrast that with the disastrous Liz Truss mini-Budget, inflation through the roof and a £22 billion black hole.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Further evidence of the decline of the Tory party: they say that going to Ukraine at the weekend to try to secure peace for Ukraine, for the security and defence of Europe, is somehow the wrong priority. That conflict has already massively impacted people in this country through the cost of living crisis and energy. Ukraine, Europe and we deserve peace, and to live in peace. Dealing with the bin strikes is a priority. We continue to call on Unite to suspend the strike immediately and bring the disruption to an end. We are supporting the council to ramp up the cleaning operation. We are now collecting over 1,100 tonnes of waste every day and continue to offer our support so that the backlog does not reappear.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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The situation is serious. The last Government lost control of the borders. We are taking powers— [ Interruption. ] This is precisely to the hon. Gentleman’s point. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is the first Bill to give counter-terrorism-like powers to law enforcement, precisely so that we can get in before the crimes are committed and before people get to this country. This is the most far-reaching provision ever for law enforcement to defend and secure our borders. That is why it is extraordinary that he, of all people, voted against it, and sooner or later he is going to have to explain that.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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It is the same old Tories every time: better rights for workers are on the table, and they vote against them. Respect, dignity and protection at work are good for workers, good for the economy and good for growth.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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I think the right hon. Lady just said “tiny tariff deal”. Can I suggest that she gets the train to Solihull, which takes two hours, and tells the workforce at Jaguar Land Rover, and their families and communities, that she would rip up the deal that protects their jobs? When she has done that, she might travel across to Scunthorpe and tell the steelworkers there that she is going to rip up the deal that saves their jobs; then, if she has time, she could go up to Scotland and tell the people at the whisky distilleries that she would rip up the deal that is creating 1,200 jobs for them, boosting their exports; and then she can come back here next week and tell us what reaction she got.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is a superb champion for energy security, driving down bills and the good secure jobs that renewables offer. Those on the Opposition Benches are climate defeatists—anti-jobs, anti-growth, anti-business and anti-investment—and they should try to peddle their policies to the tens of thousands of people in this country who work in renewables every single day. Those on the Opposition Benches do not think that Britain has the skills and they would deny us incredible opportunities. We are focused on securing billions in investment, creating tens of thousands of jobs and taking us off the rollercoaster of international fossil fuels.
14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her work with JLR and for standing up for the jobs in her constituency. The deal that we have agreed saves thousands of jobs in our car industry, securing the livelihoods of countless families. I have been up to JLR on a number of occasions, including last week. I know at first hand what it means for the workforce, their families and their communities—and the Leader of the Opposition says she would go and tell them that she is going to rip it up. She should go up there— [ Interruption. ] Well, she says she is going to go against it. What did the Reform leader say about JLR? He said JLR deserves to go bust. Shame on him! Labour is striking deals in the national interest.

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