Labor fears complacency could cost the party a majority at the election, with Sir Keir Starmer determined not to let discipline slip despite polls putting him on course for 10th place.
Last night, Sir Keir welcomed the election announcement, saying it was a “moment the country needed and was waiting for”.
But behind the scenes, he has warned his aides and MPs against being complacent – fearing his lead in the polls could disappear if the party becomes complacent.
However, Rishi Sunak’s claim earlier this month that local election results suggested “we are heading towards a hung parliament” was seen by Labor supporters as a boost for Sir Keir.
“He couldn’t have said anything more helpful to us,” a Labor source told the Mail.
“We need people to go out and vote and not think that a Labor victory is a given.”
Keir Starmer is reportedly determined not to let discipline slip away despite polls putting him on track for 10th place.
Last night, Sir Keir welcomed the election announcement, saying it was “a moment the country needed and was waiting for”.
Sir Keir warned the election would “feel like a long campaign” but said it would offer “a chance to change your future, your community, your country for the better”.
In a televised statement – far from the rain that had soaked the Prime Minister – he said: “A vote for Labor is a vote for stability.
“If they get five more years, they will feel entitled to continue exactly as they are. Nothing will change.
“A vote for Labor is a vote for stability, economic and political, a policy that affects our lives more lightly. A vote to stop the chaos. He said Labor would run its general election campaign with “a new spirit of service: country first, party second”.
He added: “I am well aware of the cynicism people have towards politicians at the moment, but I came to politics late, having served our country as head of the Crown Prosecution Service, and I helped the Police Service of Northern Ireland obtain consent from all communities.
Labor last week unveiled a ‘commitment card’ with six ‘first steps’ its party would take if it were to win power while speaking at a campaign event in Essex .
Sir Keir warned elections would ‘feel like one long campaign’
Keir Starmer delivers a speech at the National Composites Center
The measures include moves to invest in the NHS, education and policing, create a new national energy company and an elite border force, and promote economic stability.
But Labor health spokesman Wes Streeting had an embarrassing blackout a few days later, live on television, when he couldn’t remember all six election promises. He correctly identified five of the six “first steps”, but had to refer to his pledge card to cite the sixth promise relating to tackling anti-social behaviour.
Labor has already drawn its main battle lines and repeated the rhetoric of the election campaign. Questions like, “Are you and your family feeling better than you did 13 years ago?” and “Are our hospitals, schools and police working better than they did 13 years ago?” should feature prominently in the party’s campaign. Labor is also likely to frequently remind voters of Liz Truss’s time as Conservative leader, with Rachel Reeves recently saying: “Liz Truss may no longer be from Downing Street, but she still leads the Conservative Party.”
Sir Keir has consistently led in the polls, with the latest poll of voting intentions by YouGov putting Labor on 47 per cent and the Conservatives on 20 per cent.
His personal ratings, while mediocre, are higher than those of Mr Sunak, and more than two thirds (71%) of the public expect Sir Keir to come in at 10th after the election, according to YouGov. His political analysis also suggests that one in three voters (35 per cent) think he would make the best prime minister, compared to 19 per cent for Mr Sunak.
The main leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, spoke during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session.
UNITED KINGDOM. Labor Party leader Sir Keir Starmer arrives at his home in London after the general election was announced.
Labor is also buoyed by analysis suggesting the party may need a weaker overall boost from the Conservatives to win a majority than previously thought.
Professors Robert Ford of the University of Manchester and Sir John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde pointed out that in local elections, Labor was stronger in areas where the vote for Brexit was greater in of the Brexit referendum.
Labor also won seven seats in by-elections in the past year alone, and two Conservative MPs have defected to Labor in recent weeks. Ahead of Mr Sunak’s announcement last night, Labor said it was “ready to go” whenever the Prime Minister calls an election, and has already drawn up the manifesto but is yet to print it.
A spokesperson for Sir Keir said: “We are fully prepared to go whenever the Prime Minister calls an election.
“We have a fully organized and operational campaign ready to go and we believe the country is crying out for a general election and we therefore urge the Prime Minister to get going.”
The spokesperson said Mr Sunak “cannot avoid the verdict of the British public, who recognize this is a government that has failed over the past 14 years and believe it is time to to change”.
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