Keir Starmer rejects criticism of Labour as light on detailed policy

Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at critics accusing Labour of lacking detailed policies, as the party prepares for a gruelling general election campaign later this year.

The Labour leader promised to meet the Tories’ “fire with fire” as he kicked off the new year with a major speech promising to boost growth and raise standards in British politics.

Speaking to listeners on LBC, Sir Keir said: “You can’t really say, ‘We don’t know what you stand for, we haven’t set anything out’. Unless you’ve just really not paid very much attention to what’s been said over the last year or so.”

Alongside plans to improve living standards, Sir Keir stressed plans to halve violence against women and girls.

He said investors want stability after several years of uncertainty and “chopping and the changing” in British politics.

“We need to create the environment of stability,” he added.

Labour had promised in 2021 to invest £28 billion a year until 2030 in green projects if it came to power, but last year Ms Reeves said the figure would instead be a target to work towards in the second half of a first parliament.

Sir Keir called it a “confident ambition” on Friday.

It comes as Labour prepares to launch a fresh attack on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over the two percentage point cut to national insurance due to come into force on Saturday, labelling it a “raw deal” because of hidden tax rises.

A Labour poster was unveiled on a shopfront and ad van in Wellingborough, where the party is seeking to overturn a Tory majority in an upcoming by-election.

The ad, which features a colourful image of the Prime Minister in the style of a mock shopping deal advert, will also be published online and in regional newspapers across the country.

Ms Reeves, who launched the advert in front of a crowd of activists, said it is “time for a fresh start”.

The national insurance cut, she said, is “a drop in the ocean – working people are worse off under the Tories”.

“Never have people paid so much in tax and got so little in return in the form of public services,” she said.

“This is the year of choice, the year the British people will give their verdict on Rishi Sunak and 14 years of Conservative government.”