UK's Starmer offers 'plan for change' in reset bid after 150 days

LONDON - Prime Minister Keir Starmer will unveil a "plan for change" for Britain on Thursday as he attempts a de-facto relaunch of his government following a bumpy first five months in power.

The Labour leader is to lay out "ambitious milestones" on which voters can judge his administration, seeking to move on from several unpopular decisions that have overshadowed his young premiership.

"Mission-led government does not mean picking milestones because they are easy or will happen anyway," Starmer, who entered office in July, is set to say in a speech near London.

"It means relentlessly driving real improvements in the lives of working people."

Starmer's first weeks were dominated by controversies over scrapping winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, keeping a child benefit restriction, and for accepting gifts from a wealthy donor.

They were also overshadowed by the departure of his chief of staff Sue Gray following intense media scrutiny over her role and reports of factional in-fighting inside Number 10.

His finance minister's debut budget on 30 October failed to provide a more positive narrative after coverage focused on farmers and business owners angry at increases in inheritance tax and employer payroll contributions.

Critics say the business tax rise, an increase in the national minimum wage, and plans for higher state borrowing will undermine the Labour government's overriding mission to fire up an anaemic economy.

"Some may oppose what we are doing and no doubt there will be obstacles along the way," the premier was due to say in his speech, according to excerpts released by Downing Street.

"But this government was elected on a mandate of change and our plan reflects the priorities of working people."

The speech comes amid plunging approval ratings for the government and a week after Starmer suffered his first ministerial resignation when Louise Haigh quit the transport brief after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence before she became a lawmaker.

Starmer's spokespeople insist his speech forms the next phase of his plan for "a decade of national renewal", after the first stage focused on "fixing the foundations" of the country.

The premier has repeatedly claimed that he is taking "tough decisions" because the former Conservative administration bequeathed Labour a dire inheritance across several sectors after 14 consecutive years in power.

Labour accuses the Tories of leaving behind a £22 billion "black hole" in the public finances ($28 billion), a prison system bursting at the seams and a National Health Service (NHS) on its knees.

'HONEST'

Starmer's government highlights several policies already announced, including the launching of a publicly owned clean energy company and the lifting of a ban on new onshore wind farms.

It has also strengthened workers' rights and moved to cut planning regulations to help build 1.5 million new homes, while Starmer has visited more than a dozen countries to repair relations damaged by Brexit.

Westminster is very much viewing his speech as a "reset", however, with UK newspapers reporting that he is likely to revise some pledges made during his successful general election campaign.

The prime minister is expected to drop a promise to make Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7 and replace it with targets to improve living standards.

He is also expected to set a target for NHS waiting lists and will announce his intention to put an extra 13,000 police on Britain's streets to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

"It's about trying to use language that is going to connect with voters," Patrick Diamond, a policy adviser when Labour was last in Number 10, told AFP.

"It's going to be a set of commitments that voters can tangibly judge whether or not the government's really making an impact," added Diamond, now a professor at Queen Mary University of London.

Milestones risk becoming millstones, however. Starmer's predecessor Rishi Sunak was hampered by his failure to meet key pledges.

"This plan for change is the most ambitious yet honest programme for government in a generation," Starmer was to say.