UK's Labour to Outline Strategy For ‘Economy For Working People’, Growth & ‘Fairer, Greener Future’

At the UK Labour Party’s annual conference, which is taking place in Liverpool from 25 to 28 September, leader Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to spell out his vision for the country after Prime Minister Liz Truss unveiled her government’s plans to tackling the cost of living crisis, involving tax cuts and extra spending.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer will set out his ideas for boosting the UK’s energy security while tackling the climate crisis and creating more jobs as he addresses the party’s annual conference on 27 September.

Starmer will be presenting himself as the prime minister in waiting throughout the four-day event, offering an alternative strategy to the one recently unveiled by the government under PM Liz Truss.

His confidence has been boosted by a lead against the Conservatives in recent polls.

The opposition leader has vowed to set out a plan for "an economy that works for working people" by unlocking "growth for everyone".

The Tories have failed to grow our economy and are now out of road.

This conference is our chance to set out our alternative. A growing economy that works for working people again – a fairer, greener future. #Lab22 pic.twitter.com/pKvM81D1Ld

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 24, 2022

On the eve of the conference, Starmer promised that "change is on the way" as he spoke at a London Labour reception on 23 September. He also accused the government of having "an ideological mission to make the rich richer," as he scathingly described the so-called mini-budget unveiled by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as benefitting the richest 1 percent.

"After 12 long years of Tory failure, didn't they just show their true colors yesterday? Their driving ideology - make the rich richer and do nothing for working people. Well, this conference is our chance to set out the alternative, to make our case for an economy that works for working people, growth for everyone everywhere, wherever they are, a fairer, greener future. Let's do it," Keir Starmer said on Saturday.

Tory casino economics is gambling the mortgages and finances of every family in the country.

Labour will secure growth for working people, that benefits all communities.

My Government will deliver a fairer, greener future.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 24, 2022

On the opening day of the conference, starting with a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, deputy leader Angela Rayner is expected to give an outline of Labour's policy agenda.

On 26 September, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil the opposition’s alternative to Kwarteng's mini-budget. The Chancellor unveiled a massive package of tax cuts on 23 September as part of a package of measures tailored to tackle the cost of living crisis and boost economic growth.

Starmer will deliver his speech to the conference on Tuesday, laying out his vision of "a fairer, greener future for Britain".

Green ‘Superpower’

The Labour party’s pledges on clean power and policing are among those uppermost on the agenda.

Accordingly, in the conference's opening announcements in Liverpool, Starmer will describe a future Labour government’s plan to lower energy bills permanently by turning the UK into a clean energy “superpower” by 2030. This ambitious goal is to be achieved through a massive expansion of wind and solar energy.

The opposition’s energy proposal, as outlined by Starmer to The Observer, is to use wind, solar and offshore wind power to “re-industrialize” the UK to create a zero carbon, self-sufficient electricity system, by the end of this decade. Starmer has insisted this approach will both cut bills and create jobs, emphasizing:

“I don’t approach this as a tree-hugger. I’m a jobs green.”

As part of the Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan, this approach will involve:

According to the Labour party, these measures would potentially save UK households £475 per year until 2030 and create more than 200,000 direct jobs.

"Our plan for clean power by 2030 will save the British people £93Bln off their energy bills… It will also support our drive for higher growth and rising living standards. From a world-leading offshore wind industry in Scotland and the East Coast, hydrogen in the North-West and Teesside, nuclear power in the South-East, and solar power in the South and Midlands, this truly national enterprise will unleash Britain's potential with thousands of good, well-paid jobs across our country. This is a plan that will drive jobs, tackle the cost of living, and protect our home for future generations by tackling the climate crisis," Starmer is slated to say at the conference.

‘Neighborhood Policing’

The Labour party pledges to bring back "proper neighborhood policing". For this, the party suggests recruiting at least 10,000 more officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), saying that their plans are the equivalent of giving every constituency in England and Wales between 15 and 20 extra neighborhood police.

"Over the past 12 years, the Conservatives have decimated neighborhood policing. In towns and cities across the country, people just don't see police on the streets any more, fewer criminals are being caught and nothing is being done about antisocial behavior. This can't go on. Labour has a plan to bring the police back into our communities to tackle crime and its causes, and to build community confidence. Under Keir Starmer's leadership Labour is the party of law and order now," Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was cited as saying.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting will also address the conference, promising to bring back the family doctor, providing GP practices with incentives to offer patients "continuity of care" so more patients see the same GP each appointment.

Reflecting on the mini-budget outlined in the Commons by the Chancellor on Friday, with its sweeping tax cuts and huge borrowing, Starmer told The Observer:

“The roles are switched. We’ve got the Labour party as the party of fiscal responsibility. You’ve got the Tories as the gamblers in the casino. They have ripped up the rules or missed every fiscal target they’ve set for themselves.”

This comes as the latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows Labour leading by 5 points (up 1 point compared with three weeks ago) on 39 percent and the Tories unchanged on 34 percent.

On Thursday, Ipsos MORI put Labour 10 percent ahead of the Conservatives. Ipsos pollster Keiran Pedley told PoliticsHome that if this was the result of the next general election, which is expected in 2024, it would be an "enormous swing" from the 2019 election.