Keir Starmer took Labour from its worst defeat in over seventy years to its second best election victory. This achievement alone should be enough to secure his legacy in Labour folklore. But there is more. Labour was not just electorally broken by 2019 – it was morally, institutionally and financially broken too. It required a wholesale rebuild. He rebuilt the party’s structures. He was good to his word in tearing antisemitism out by its roots within our party. He rebuilt the party’s finances, enabling us to go on and fight elections in every corner of the country. And as we’ve seen this week from the honours and comments he has received from foreign leaders, he restored Britain’s credibility in the world. He leaves a party and a country in a far better state than he found them. He should always have our thanks and our profound gratitude. He will always have it from us at Progress. Keir – thank you.
Today we saw Andy Burnham become Leader of the Labour Party. He will formally become Prime Minister on Monday. We must all get behind Andy and make this work. The challenges he faces are the same ones Keir’s government faced last week, but with new leadership and a fresh approach, I hope they will seem more achievable. Andy is right to prioritise devolving far more to our local leaders, and Greater Manchester – like the GLA in London before it – is a prime example of what can be achieved. If every region saw the kind of growth we’ve seen there, the country would be much better off.
The decisions Andy takes in the coming days will be vital – this is the team that will take on those big challenges. My only caution is that we protect our fragile economy. We cannot afford to take risks or run experiments with an economy that has been so bruised and battered over the past decade, just as green shoots have started to emerge.
The most important thing the government can do is create the right conditions for interest rates to fall as fast as possible. That would have the greatest possible impact – on individuals and families, and on the state’s ability to respond to the challenges of the day. High borrowing costs are crippling, and a block on what our government and local authorities around the country want to achieve.
Good luck, Andy. We all need this to work.
