After weeks of seemingly self-inflicted bad publicity, new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempted to reboot his leadership at his first Labour Party conference since his July election victory.
Starmer has come under pressure over his decision to cut back on winter fuel allowances for seniors and the use of donations for clothing and treats, far from the start to his premiership he had hoped for.
In his keynote speech to party delegates in the northern English city of Liverpool, Starmer, 62, said the cost of correcting the shortcomings in the public finances would be fairly shared and that all his government's policies would continue to be properly funded.
"I understand that many of the decisions we have to take will be unpopular....but the cost of filling the black hole in our public finances will be fairly shared. Just because we all want low taxes and good public services doesn't mean that the iron law of proper policy funding can be ignored, because it can't." He said.
After being criticized by experts in recent weeks for an apparent lack of detailed plans, Starmer leaned into the contentious issue of migration that has plagued successive governments.
Taking back control
Starmer explained that he does not view people concerned about immigration in the same way as those who rioted over the summer, and said the last Conservative government proposed "an immigration system deliberately reformed to reduce control".
He said: "If you want more control of the country, if you want better management of the big forces that affect your community, whether it's migration, climate change, law and order or workplace safety, then that means more decisive government, and that's Labour's argument."
Starmer also indicated that ministers are prepared to fight the so-called "nimbys" over the need to erect electricity pylons across the British countryside to ensure affordable electricity.
He announced that a new state-backed energy company, GB Energy, will be based in Aberdeen, Scotland's third largest city, with two others in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Starmer was interrupted during his speech by a protester shouting about Gaza, but when he responded with what sounded like well-rehearsed platitudes, he was met with cheers: "This guy apparently has a pass from the 2019 conference. We've changed sides. While he was protesting, we were changing party, that's why we have a Labour government."
But it was on the issue of Gaza that the prime minister stumbled when he mistakenly called on Hamas fighters to return the "sausages" rather than the hostages (the sausages - the hostages)before he corrected himself.
Starmer called for restraint and de-escalation on Israel's border with Lebanon, as well as a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution.
Inner criticism
Less than three months after Starmer won a majority of 174 seats, he is already facing criticism from within his party.
GB Energy is a core policy of the Labour Government. It will not supply electricity directly to households but instead plans to develop, invest in and own renewable energy projects.
Since becoming Labour leader in April 2020, Starmer has brought the party to the centre and marginalised or purged the left wing, including his predecessor, socialist Jeremy Corbyn.
Momentum, which backed Corbyn and called for a socialist government, has lost much of its influence on the party leadership and currently has little influence.
Since gaining power, Starmer has ruled with an iron fist over his more than 400 MPs in the lower house.
In July, he did not hesitate to suspend seven of them for voting against the controversial child benefit cap.
The party leadership on Monday postponed a vote put forward by two unions against the abolition of fuel allowances for pensioners until the last day of the conference, when many members had already left.
Momentum condemned the decision to postpone the vote as "a pathetic manoeuvre by a party elite that is afraid of its own members".
Unions, traditionally big financial backers of Labour, have voiced criticism of the new government, particularly over winter fuel payments, but so far they are not causing too much trouble.
CGTN/ gnews - RoZ_07
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