Government to Take ‘Tough Decisions,’ Starmer Says

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference after his first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, London, on July 6, 2024. Claudia Greco/PA Wire

The Labour government will take “tough decisions” with “raw honesty,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday.

Sir Keir made the remarks when asked about taxation, but he stressed they are not a prelude of some tax decisions that the government is about to announce.

“We’re going to have to take the tough decisions and take them early,” the prime minister told reporters at his first press conference in Downing Street.

“We will do that with a raw honesty. And that’s really what sat behind Wes Streeting’s description yesterday of the NHS as being broken,” he said.

Mr. Streeting, who became health secretary on Friday after Labour won the general election, has said that his department’s policy is the national health service is “broken,” adding that it can’t be “fixed overnight.”

Sir Keir said Labour will “continue in that vein” with regard to other issues, such as prison space.

“And we will take the tough decisions, but that is not a sort of prelude to saying there’s some tax decision that we didn’t speak about before we’re about to announce now. It’s about the tough decisions to fix the problem and being honest about what they are,” he said.

Early Release Not Ruled Out

Sir Keir blamed the last government for the shortage of prison spaces, saying it was a “monumental failure.”

The prime minister declined to rule out early release of prisoners, saying the problem of space shortage can’t be fixed overnight.

“And therefore it is impossible to simply say we will stop the early release of prisoners and you wouldn’t believe me if I did say it,” he said.

The former prosecutor also said he wants to reduce crime, and that many prisoners could have been taken out of the criminal justice system if there were support and interventions during their teenage years.

Sir Keir pledged to personally chair “mission delivery boards” that he said will drive through changes.

‘Clear Mandate’

Having won 412 of 650 seats in Parliament, and a majority in England, Scotland, and Wales, Sir Keir said Labour has got “a clear mandate to govern for all four corners of the United Kingdom.”

The prime minister said he would begin a tour of the country on Saturday, meeting the first ministers in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, and talk to mayors after the tour about economic growth.

He also said economic growth is “the number one mission of the Labour government,” pleading to achieve the goal by pushing power and resources out of Whitehall.

Although Labour was handed a landslide victory with two-thirds of seats in Parliament, the party’s vote share was only around one-third—the lowest ever for a party that has won a majority—in a general election that had the second lowest turnout since the Second World War.

Asked about the 80 percent of British voters who didn’t vote for Labour or didn’t vote at all, Sir Keir said his administration will be “a government of service to all people.”

“People who didn’t vote for us need to know that we will serve them that we will not turn our back on people just because we don’t think they voted for us will govern for the whole country. And that’s what I meant by what I said yesterday: it’s about taking the country forward.”

Farage: Government ‘Could Be in Trouble Pretty Quickly’

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who has been elected to Parliament for the first time, told reporters he suspects the government “could be in trouble pretty quickly.”

Asked about his thoughts on Sir Keir’s new Cabinet, Mr. Farage said: “With a couple of exceptions, they are I think the most inexperienced people ever to have got into a British cabinet.

“If you actually look at their life stories, their backgrounds and bear in mind, these are people making executive decisions that fundamentally affect people’s lives, I think they’re going to find it very, very hard. And I say that because the country faces some really fundamental problems, I suspect this government could be in trouble pretty quickly.”

Reform has won five seats in the general election with 14 percent vote share. Mr. Farage has said the party’s ambition is to provide “real opposition” in the country.