Keir Starmer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

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  When we went to 2.5%, we set out in clear terms both the date and the way we would pay for it. That is the way we do business on the Government side of the House. For 14 years, the Conservative party lost control of the economy, left our armed forces hollowed out and left a £22 billion black hole. Frankly, they are in no position to lecture anyone about these issues—still less after the response of the Leader of the Opposition, which shows exactly why the party is sliding into irrelevance.

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

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  Let me first pay tribute to the veterans in my hon. Friend’s constituency and across the country. We have already put in place a number of initiatives, particularly in relation to homelessness and veterans, and more broadly in relation to accommodation and the support for not just veterans, but our armed service personnel. That is vital not only as a reflection of their contribution, but to ensure that we deal with the retention crisis among those serving, which was caused by the Conservative party.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I know my hon. Friend has been fighting hard for this project for years, and she is right that the previous Government failed to deliver. You could say that about anything they touched, Mr Speaker. The Rail Minister is working with the Mayor and the Housing Minister to get an appropriate solution to unlock housing in the area. We will also bring c2c back into public ownership, improving reliability and performance, and ensuring every penny is focused on better services.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the role that she and others played in seeing Davy Russell elected. He will be a dedicated champion for his and her constituents. After nearly two decades in power, the SNP got its verdict last Thursday: Scotland wants change. People know that the SNP is completely out of ideas. That is why they want a Labour Government to deliver real change.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will have seen the statement we made yesterday and the actions that we are taking with allies. The humanitarian situation is dreadful and distressing, and the scenes that we have witnessed outside aid distribution centres are frankly heartbreaking. More aid into Gaza is needed at volume and speed, and Israel’s plan for aid delivery is inadequate and insufficient. What is needed is for the UN and other agencies to deliver that aid according to well-established mechanisms, and Israel must allow this. We are working with allies to do all that we can to make this happen, as well as to get the hostages out—they have been held for a very long time—and a desperately needed return to a ceasefire.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that the health crisis created by the previous Government cannot be— [Interruption.] Opposition Members groan, but that is exactly how the country feels about the last 14 years and the mess that they made of everything. Yes, we do need to fix social care as well as putting money into the NHS. We are putting record amounts into the NHS, which is the right thing to do, and we are seeing the results. We promised 2 million extra appointments in the first year of a Labour Government, and we have delivered 3 million. So there will be that extra funding, but let me gently say to the right hon. Gentleman that while he welcomes all the extra funding, he cannot at the same time simply say that he is against any way of raising the money for the funding. There is an incompatibility there.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  It is important that we take action to protect our children. From July, tough new rules will mean platforms must protect children in the UK from seeing harmful and violent content. We do need to look at what other measures are needed to create safer online experiences for young people and we will not hesitate to take further steps.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I think the right hon. Lady let slip on the Matt Forde programme the other day that she rehearses her fury for PMQs, so there was a very good rehearsal this morning, I think. She asks what we are doing. At the Budget, we put record investment in our NHS and our public services. She comes every week to carp on about national insurance, but she does not stand there with the courage of her convictions and say that she will actually reverse it. The reason she will not is because she will not stand up and say she is against the investment in the NHS. She will not stand up and say she is against the investment in our public services. We will all listen very carefully in just 20 minutes, when the Chancellor lays out more record investment, as to whether the Conservatives welcome it or whether they say they would not support it.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  May I start with the important point that the hon. Lady makes about Ballymena? I utterly condemn the violence that we saw overnight in Ballymena and other parts of Northern Ireland, including against PSNI officers. It is absolutely vital that the PSNI is given the time it needs to investigate the incidents concerned, rather than face mindless attacks as it seeks to bring peace and order to keep people safe. The Northern Ireland Secretary is in touch with the PSNI and the Executive, and I am being kept updated in relation to that. In relation to the tragic cases that the hon. Lady mentions, I thank her for raising them. It is important that we have a legal duty of candour and we will be introducing that, because, as she says, there must be the truth here, based on all people being dealt with on the basis of dignity, fairness and accountability.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  It is very important that we make the changes to our welfare system. It is not working, and it needs reform. I think everyone agrees with that. It does not work for anyone. We will do this on a principled basis, namely that those who can work should work, that those who want to work should be supported so that they can do so, and that we must protect those with the most severe disabilities who will never be able to work—and we are doing that by ending reassessments and paying a new premium.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Lady has obviously missed the interest rate cuts, the growth figures for earlier this year, the strategic defence review, £15 billion going into local transport, free school meals, Sizewell and social housing. She stands at the Dispatch Box to lecture us, and I see that Liz Truss is obviously back in vogue, advising Reform officially now and haunting the Tories. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that the shadow Home Secretary, who I think was then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, gave the Liz Truss Budget 9.5 out of 10. The Leader of the Opposition said that what was wrong with Liz Truss’s Budget was not necessarily the package—that was all right—but the way it was sold. The Tories have learned absolutely nothing.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this really important issue for his constituents. I think it does impact rural areas in particular. We have set out record funding for the NHS. We have our cancer plan, and I can give him that reassurance.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for raising this horrific case and the other, similar cases. My thoughts—and, I am sure, the thoughts of the whole House—are with Michael’s family and all those affected by such vile crimes. I think we all need to listen to what they have to say. I know that she has been working with my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters) on this issue, and I pay tribute to her and to all those who are working so hard on the issue. I am sure that the Justice Minister will be in touch at the first opportunity to take this forward. I thank the hon. Lady again for raising a really important issue.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, may I first wish you a happy birthday for yesterday, and say that we are all delighted that Sir Billy Boston—a great British sporting icon—has received his richly deserved knighthood? It is long overdue, if I may say so, for him but also for rugby league. This is Carers Week, and I know that the whole House will join me in celebrating the selfless dedication of our unpaid and young carers. This weekend also marks the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. We will honour the 72 men, women and children who lost their lives by delivering meaningful and lasting change—a country with safe and secure homes for everyone, where justice is done for the Grenfell community. Acting alongside our allies, we have sanctioned individuals responsible for inciting appalling settler violence and expansion. We have done that to uphold human rights and defend the prospect of a two-state solution. We will continue to support all efforts to secure a ceasefire, the release of all hostages—despicably held by Hamas—and the humanitarian aid that needs to surge in. This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for championing this really important issue. My late mother had diabetes, so I know at first hand just what a struggle it can be and how important this is. Type 1 diabetes is not preventable, as she knows, but the sooner we can reach people, the sooner we can care for them. We have a screening programme in the UK available to families across the country, and over 20,000 children have already taken part. It is really important that we continue to deliver that, but I thank her for continuing to champion this and to raise her voice on this very important issue. [ Official Report , 2 July 2025; Vol. 770, c. 3WC.] (Correction)

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As the right hon. Gentleman knows, that is an issue that is being considered, but it is complicated and there are a great many countervailing factors that need to be carefully balanced in any decision. We are talking to allies about it, but I do not want to pretend to the House that there is an easy answer on this, because there is not.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I imagine when the right hon. Member says “disaster”, he is referring to the last Government.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The wrong choice that they made was making the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives left a £22 billion black hole that we had to fill, and that is why we took the right decisions. We have stabilised the economy, which is why we have seen four interest rate cuts. We have committed to the triple lock, which the Opposition say is unsustainable—that is £470 for most pensioners—and we have had good quarter 1 growth. Three weeks ago, I said that I wanted more pensioners to be eligible for the winter fuel payment. I am really pleased that we set out the threshold and the certainty that is needed. The right hon. Lady says that I do not want to talk about our record, but what about three trade deals, record investment, free school meals, breakfast clubs, social and affordable housing, the defence review, Sizewell—we could go on all morning, but the Chancellor will say even more in a minute. At the weekend, the right hon. Lady said that she would be getting better in the role. She could start by apologising for the Liz Truss Budget; that would be better.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this. I believe this Government must seize the opportunities of net zero for working people, creating good, skilled jobs and taking them off the rollercoaster of volatile fossil-fuel markets. Under past Governments, hard-working communities had their pride and their jobs ripped away, and we will never do that in relation to a transition. We have already seen £40 billion of investment in energy and renewables, and the CBI data shows that 38,000 jobs in Wales are linked to clean energy. I want to see more of that; both the Conservatives and Reform are against it.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has great expertise, having worked for many years in the NHS as a GP, and I support the work he is doing. As he has pointed out, our plan for change has cut waiting lists in his local trust by almost 5,000, and we are going further, including through state-of-the-art radiotherapy machines rolled out across the country. There is one going into my hon. Friend’s constituency, and more scanners are going to 27 other hospital trusts, including two hospitals in the constituency of the Leader of the Opposition. This is all made possible by the decisions we have made, and I know that the Leader of the Opposition will want to stand up and welcome that.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I join my hon. Friend on his comments about Billy Boston, and I think the whole House will, Mr Speaker. We are turning the tide on the housing crisis, with the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation. The Chancellor is investing £39 billion over the next 10 years—almost double what we saw under the last Government—and it is no wonder the National Housing Federation welcomed this as transformative, saying it offers “real hope” to the thousands who need safe, secure and affordable homes.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Diego Garcia is a vital intelligence and strategic capability, and it is absolutely clear that legal uncertainty would compromise it in very short order—that is why the Conservatives started the negotiations in relation to it—and no responsible Prime Minister would let that happen. We have secured the base for the long term. That has been welcomed by our allies—by the US, by NATO, and by Australia, New Zealand and India. It has been opposed by our adversaries—by Russia, China and Iran. In the second column, we add Reform following Putin, and the Tories following Reform.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Since the general election, 500,000 more people are in work. I know that the right hon. Lady does not mention that—she is fixated on talking Britain down. We are investing in the future. Even in the last two weeks, we have had the strategic defence review, with 30,000 new jobs building submarines. Yesterday we had the Sizewell announcement, which will create 10,000 new jobs, and there will be tens of thousands of construction jobs building the social and affordable housing that was announced this morning. That is the difference that Labour makes in government.

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for raising this. The epidemic of absence in our schools really does worry me. Thanks to the efforts of schools and parents across the country, we have seen over 3 million more days in school this year compared with last, which is really important, but we do know that pupils with special educational needs face more complex barriers in relation to school attendance. We will of course look at all amendments in the usual way, but in this instance I do think we have struck the right balance.