Labour's Peter Kyle in Hexham as Labour unveil steps for change

Sir Keir Starmer unveiled a pledge card with six steps his party would take if it were to win power as he spoke at a campaign event in Essex this morning.

Shadow Secretary of State of Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle was in Hexham on Thursday launching the message in the North East as Labour MPs dispersed across the country.

Mr Kyle, MP for Hove was at Hexham Racecourse with Labour’s candidate for the seat, Joe Morris, and newly elected North East Mayor Kim McGuinness.

Described as Labour’s doorstep offer to the public, the campaign was launched by Labour leader Keir Starmer on Thursday morning with a hark back to 1997 with new pledge cards.

The six “steps” are: delivering economic stability; cutting NHS waiting times; launching a new Border Security Command; setting up Great British Energy; cracking down on anti-social behaviour and recruiting 6,500 new teachers.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Kyle outlined what the steps would mean for voters in the North East and Northumberland.

He said: “People right across Northumberland have been crying out for change. We’re going forward with a promise of a decade of national renewal.

“If we’re pledging that, people want to know what those first steps are. What we have come forward with is a series of six steps that people can really understand how things will feel like and be different right across Northumberland and our country with a Labour Government.

“People can now see these six steps forward – these are things that will affect people’s lives – if you’re parents and you’re concerned about improvement in schools locally, if it is about anti-social behaviour locally, if it’s about the instability in our economy which we will tackle from day one.

“These are the sorts of things that will have a tangible impact on people’s lives. If you’re living in pain at the moment, you don’t know if you’re going to be able to see a doctor any time soon.

“This is going to connect directly to people. It’s pointing to a changed Britain, a changed experience in communities that they live in and a changed life for individuals.”

The message was backed by Labour mayor Kim McGuinness.

She added: “These six things are really on people’s minds every day. We show them that we’re listening so we can attract those Labour voters that may have moved away from Labour, and also attract those people who have never voted Labour before, and who just really want to see that really important change.

“People want to see those waiting lists come down, they want to see more teachers in schools and they want to see a plan around the border.”

Speaking in Essex Sir Keir Starmer said the first stage of his strategy was to recognise the “scale” of defeat Labour suffered in 2019 and to change the party, and the next was to “expose the Government as incompetent”, which he said had been assisted by the behaviour of “several of their prime ministers”.

Sir Keir Starmer. (Image: PA)

He denied scaling back on his ambitions for government, saying 

“We’re not reducing the mission,” Sir Keir said.

“I don’t accept that they’re small first steps,” he continued to insist in a Q&A with the media.

“If you’re waiting on an NHS waiting list, this is a change that makes a massive difference.”

He also emphasised the need for economic stability, which Labour’s campaign material says will requires “tough spending rules”.

The Labour leader said he had recently spoken to a couple in Wolverhampton who had decided they could not afford to have a second child as a result of the fallout from Liz Truss’s 2022 mini-budget.

“I’m not prepared to let an incoming Labour government ever do that kind of damage to working people,” he told the audience."

Asked during an interview with ITV later how quickly the public would be able to feel the difference of Labour’s policy agenda, Sir Keir said: “On day one.”

Parliamentary candidate Joe Morris, who is looking to take the Hexham Constituency for Labour for the first time in its history from Tory Guy Opperman, outlined how he felt the pledge would appeal to voters in the area.

He said: “The pledges will make people know that they would have a stable, sensible Government that is focused on things that really matter to the British people – whether that’s getting hospital waiting times down, whether that’s getting energy bills down through Great British Energy or cracking down on anti-social behaviour and improving the take-up of new teachers.

“These are things that make a genuine difference to people day in, day out.”

Asked whether the party would look to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour, rather than just coming down hard on offenders, Mr Morris added: “I think by delivering economic stability we will be able to deliver something that will address not just ASB but will address some of the longer term causes."

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The Conservatives have hit back at the campaign and branded the launch as “Keir Starmer’s 16th relaunch". 

Posting on social media, North West Durham MP and Conservative Party Chairman Richard Holden said: “They are the same old Labour who’d take us back to square one with no plan to secure Britain’s future.”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attacked the Labour leader and said he would make the country “less safe” if elected. Asked about the remarks, Sir Keir told the BBC security would be his “first priority”.