PM delivers his 'plan for change' in Buckinghamshire with key targets
Those refer to economic growth, the NHS, housing, home-grown energy, education, and safer streets
Last updated 5th Dec 2024
The Prime Minister has promised a "relentless focus on delivering for working people" in a major speech setting out targets to measure progress on his Government's plans.
Under the 'plan for change', the Government promises more neighbourhood police to tackle crime in every community.
The speech on Thursday has been billed as setting out the "next phase" of Sir Keir's administration, detailing the "milestones" for achieving the five missions laid out in Labour's election manifesto.
Ahead of the speech, Sir Keir said: "We were elected with a mandate of change.
"The next phase of mission-led government continues our relentless focus on delivering for working people.
"Our plan for change sets out ambitious yet achievable milestones that will improve people's lives across the country."
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch branded the speech an "emergency reset" after a challenging five months in office.
The milestones focus on raising living standards, rebuilding Britain, ending hospital backlogs, putting more police on the beat, giving children the best start in life and securing home-grown energy.
Neighbourhood policing has been set out as a key priority to tackle crime, with the Prime Minister announcing "13,000 extra neighbourhood police".
Police numbers fell following the 2010 election, before rising again after 2019 as the previous government pledged to recruit 20,000 police officers.
While the number of officers reached record levels, the number of PCSOs and special constables continued to decline.
The additional £100 million next year would pay for the recruitment of around 1,200 police officers, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.
The promise of a named officer for each community is intended to improve relations between the police and the public.
But the Conservatives said only a third of the 13,000 new recruits would be full police officers, while the £100 million would not cover what was needed to pay for them, leading to cuts elsewhere.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: "The Conservatives recruited over 20,000 extra police officers and gave the police an extra £922 million for policing this year, ensuring the police could protect the public and prosecute more criminals.
"Starmer has once again misled the public by claiming to recruit an extra 13,000 officers when the actual number is 3,000, and even that is not properly funded."
Sir Keir's targets are based on the five "missions" Labour set out in its manifesto: securing the "highest sustained growth" in the G7 group of wealthy democracies, making Britain a "clean energy superpower", halving serious violent crime, breaking down "barriers to opportunity" and building an NHS "fit for the future".
Immigration not included as a key 'milestone' in the 'plan for change'
Following his speech, questions were raised over immigration, which hadn't been highlighted as one of the key targets for change, but mentioned throughout.
In response to those, the Prime Minister said cutting immigration "will only be done with a serious plan" and - referring to "illegal" immigration - repeated his argument that the only way to do this would be to go after people smuggling gangs running the "vile trade".
A document published to accompany the speech said the migration system "needs to be controlled and managed and we need strong borders".
The Government is clearing the asylum backlog, increasing the number of people who are voluntarily returning to their home country if they do not have permission to remain in the UK, and stepping up efforts to tackle people smuggling gangs to curb Channel crossings, the document said.
It added that tackling skills shortages in the UK, reforming "our approach to the labour market" and "clamping down on employers who exploit the visa system" will help the Government to reduce net migration.
Labour committed to tackling problems within the immigration system in its election manifesto. But in the five months the party has been in Government so far ministers have been reluctant to set specific targets on numbers.
Nearly 34,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel.
Home Office figures show 289 people made the journey in six boats on Wednesday, taking the provisional total for the year up to now to 33,973.
This is up 17% on this time last year (29,090) but down 23% on 2022 (44,174), which was a record high year for crossings.
Other figures show the cost of the UK's asylum system has risen to £5 billion, the highest level of Home Office spending on record and up by more than a third in a year.
What are the key missions?
• Raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom, so working people have more money in their pocket as we aim to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7, with higher Real Household Disposable Income per person and GDP per capita by the end of the Parliament.
• Rebuilding Britain with 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects.
• Ending hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92% of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.
• Putting police back on the beat with a named officer for every neighbourhood, and 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood roles in England and Wales.
• Giving children the best start in life, with a record 75% of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school.
• Securing home-grown energy, protecting billpayers, and putting us on track to at least 95% Clean Power by 2030, while accelerating the UK to net zero.
In his speech today, the Prime Minister said: " Mission-led government is a plan for the nation," adding that "if we get these missions right, we can make our country stronger."