'Nothing Is Really Working Anymore In Britain,' Labour's Keir Starmer Says

The Labour leader put his party on election footing today, saying: "The change we need in Britain is not a change at the top of the Tory party."
|
Open Image Modal
Keir Starmer and the famous Tory poster from the 1970s
Getty

Keir Starmer declared that “nothing is really working anymore” in Britain as he put his party on an election footing.

The Labour leader outlined the issues facing Brits including soaring bills, crisis in the NHS and crime just hours before Liz Truss was announced as the new prime minister.

In a social media video, Starmer congratulated the next PM but claimed that only Labour can offer the “fresh start” the country needs.

Some suggested Starmer’s quip about nothing working anymore was a play on the famous Tory poster from the late 1970s.

Open Image Modal
Advertising campaign 'Labour Isn't Working' run by the British Conservative Party during the 'Winter of Discontent' in 1978.
Aubrey Hart via Getty Images

Starmer said: “This week we get our fourth Tory prime minister in 12 years. But so many people are asking what have you got to show for those 12 years?

“Across Britain today, people can’t pay their bills. They’re worried about doing even the weekly shop or filling up their car with fuel.

“There’s a general sense that nothing is really working anymore. And neither of the candidates to be prime minister had any answer to those issues.

“They argued that the British people are not working hard enough. How insulting is that?

“Their arguments all summer have been alien, so out of touch with what so many people have been going through.

“In the Labour Party, we know whose side we’re on. And if I were going into Downing Street this week, I’d have clear common sense priorities.”

Open Image Modal
British Labour Party politician and Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Tony Blair at a press conference during the General Election campaign, 24th February 1992. Behind him is a poster showing a queue of unemployed workers with the slogan 'Majorism Isn't Working' - a response to a previous Conservative party poster, which read 'Labour Isn't Working'. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images

Starmer said Labour would fix the immediate crisis by introducing an energy price freeze - paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

He went on to say that hospital and ambulance waiting times made him “so angry” while victims of crime were waiting years for justice. 

He added: “So I congratulate the new prime minister on taking up office.

“But the change we need in Britain is not a change at the top of the Tory party.

“Not more of the same tired old policies that got us into the mess in the first place. Only Labour can offer Britain the fresh start that we all deserve.”

In her victory speech, Truss promised to deliver a “great victory” for the Conservative Party at a general election in 2024.

The new Tory party leader promised a “bold plan” to cut taxes and grow the economy and “deliver on the energy crisis”.

She beat rival Rishi Sunak by 81,326 votes to his 60,399 in the poll of party members, a winning margin of 57 per cent to 43 per cent.