premiership of Keir Starmer

{{Main|2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK)}}

On 4 January 2020 Keir Starmer announced his candidacy for the Labour Party leadership election.{{Cite news |date=4 January 2020 |title=Keir Starmer enters Labour leadership contest |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50995782 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104200337/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50995782 |archive-date=4 January 2020 |access-date=4 January 2020 |work=BBC News}} By 8 January it was reported that he had gained enough nominations from Labour members of Parliament (MPs) and members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to get onto the ballot paper, and that the trade union Unison was backing him. Unison, with 1.3 million members, said Starmer was the best-placed candidate to unite the party and regain public trust.{{cite news |date=8 January 2020 |title=Labour leadership: Unison endorses Sir Keir Starmer |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51035448 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108132706/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51035448 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |access-date=10 July 2023 |publisher=BBC News}} He was also supported by the former prime minister Gordon Brown and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.{{cite news |date=4 April 2020 |title=Labour leadership winner: Sir Keir Starmer |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51049756 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410022621/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51049756 |archive-date=10 April 2020 |access-date=10 July 2023 |publisher=BBC News}}

During the leadership election, Starmer stood on a left-wing platform. He positioned himself in opposition to austerity, stating that the outgoing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was "right" to position Labour as the "party of anti-austerity".{{cite news |last=Jankowicz |first=Mia |date=30 December 2019 |title=Labour was 'right' to take 'radical' position on austerity, says Keir Starmer |url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-right-to-take-radical-position-1-6444007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304175356/https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-right-to-take-radical-position-1-6444007 |archive-date=4 March 2020 |access-date=15 February 2020 |work=The New European}}{{cite news |date=11 January 2020 |title=Starmer vows to protect Labour left-wing radicalism as Momentum backs Long Bailey |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2020-01-11/labour-leadership-candidates-keir-starmer-rebecca-long-bailey/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215203820/https://www.itv.com/news/2020-01-11/labour-leadership-candidates-keir-starmer-rebecca-long-bailey/ |archive-date=15 February 2020 |access-date=15 February 2020 |publisher=ITV News}} He indicated he would continue with the Labour policy of scrapping tuition fees as well as pledging "common ownership" of rail, mail, energy and water companies and called for ending outsourcing in the National Health Service (NHS), local governments and the justice system.{{cite news |last=Gye |first=Hugo |date=11 February 2020 |title=Keir Starmer promises to abolish tuition fees and nationalise industries if he becomes PM |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-election-abolish-tuition-fees-nationalisation-1477522/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518131801/https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-election-abolish-tuition-fees-nationalisation-1477522 |archive-date=18 May 2020 |access-date=15 February 2020 |work=i News}} Starmer was announced as the winner of the leadership contest on 4 April 2020, defeating his rivals, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy, with 56.2% of the vote in the first round.{{Cite news |date=4 April 2020 |title=Keir Starmer Elected as new Labour leader |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52164589 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425080229/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52164589 |archive-date=25 April 2020 |access-date=4 April 2020}} As Leader of the Opposition, contrary to his leadership campaign, he moved the party towards the political centre, and also emphasised the project of eliminating antisemitism within the party. In 2023 he set out five missions for his government, targeting issues such as economic growth, health, clean energy, crime and education.

{{Main|2024 United Kingdom general election}}

On 22 May 2024 Rishi Sunak unexpectedly announced that a general election would be held on 4 July 2024. Labour entered the general election with a large lead over the Conservative Party in opinion polls, and the potential scale of the party's victory was a topic of discussion during the campaign period.{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=20 February 2024 |title=Another Canada 93? Tory Sunak critics fear extinction-level election result |url=https://theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/20/canada-93-tory-sunak-critics-extinction-level-election-result |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615124840/https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/20/canada-93-tory-sunak-critics-extinction-level-election-result |archive-date=15 June 2024 |access-date=14 June 2024 |work=The Guardian}}{{cite news |last=Hunt |first=Wayne |date=1 June 2024 |title=Can the Tories avoid the fate of Canada's Conservatives? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-the-tories-avoid-the-fate-of-canadas-conservatives/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614045916/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-the-tories-avoid-the-fate-of-canadas-conservatives/ |archive-date=14 June 2024 |access-date=14 June 2024 |work=The Spectator}} In June 2024 Starmer released the Labour Party's manifesto, Change, which focuses on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, what Starmer describes as "clean energy", healthcare, education, childcare and strengthening workers' rights.{{Cite web |title=Change |url=https://labour.org.uk/change/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240617065051/https://labour.org.uk/change/ |archive-date=17 June 2024 |access-date=15 June 2024 |website=The Labour Party |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=23 May 2024 |title=Labour manifesto 2024: Find out how Labour will get Britain's future back |url=https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labour-manifesto-2024-sign-up/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613141625/https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labour-manifesto-2024-sign-up/ |archive-date=13 June 2024 |access-date=12 June 2024 |website=The Labour Party |language=en-GB}} It pledges a new publicly owned energy company (Great British Energy), a "Green Prosperity Plan", reducing patient waiting times in the NHS, and renationalisation of the railway network (Great British Railways).{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Jenni |date=13 June 2024 |title=Britain's Labour Party pledges 'wealth creation' as it targets landslide election victory |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/13/uk-general-election-2024-labour-publishes-manifesto-.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613173116/https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/13/uk-general-election-2024-labour-publishes-manifesto-.html |archive-date=13 June 2024 |access-date=13 June 2024 |website=CNBC |language=en}} It includes wealth creation and "pro-business and pro-worker" policies.{{Cite web |date=13 June 2024 |title=Starmer launches Labour's pro-business, pro-worker manifesto with £7.35bn of new taxes |url=https://nz.news.yahoo.com/starmer-hopes-labour-pro-business-103304717.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613173115/https://nz.news.yahoo.com/starmer-hopes-labour-pro-business-103304717.html |archive-date=13 June 2024 |access-date=13 June 2024 |website=Yahoo News}} The manifesto also pledged to give votes to 16 year olds, reform the House of Lords, and to tax private schools, with money generated going into improving state education.{{Cite news |last=Mason |first=Rowena |date=13 June 2024 |title=Change and growth: five key takeaways from the Labour manifesto launch |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/13/change-and-growth-five-key-takeaways-from-the-labour-manifesto-launch |access-date=13 June 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last1=Gibbons |first1=Amy |last2=Sigsworth |first2=Tim |date=16 May 2024 |title=Labour Party manifesto 2024: Keir Starmer's election promises |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/labour-party-pledges-manifesto-general-election-voters/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706003421/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/05/labour-party-pledges-manifesto-general-election-voters/ |archive-date=6 July 2024 |access-date=13 June 2024 |work=The Telegraph |issn=0307-1235}}

In July 2024 Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative government with Labour becoming the largest party in the House of Commons.{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Faye |date=5 July 2024 |title='Change begins now', Starmer says – as Labour win historic landslide |url=https://news.sky.com/story/the-labour-party-has-won-this-general-election-sunak-concedes-defeat-13162921 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705091108/https://news.sky.com/story/the-labour-party-has-won-this-general-election-sunak-concedes-defeat-13162921 |archive-date=5 July 2024 |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=Sky News}} Labour achieved a 174-seat simple majority and a total of 411 seats,{{efn|The figure does not include Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, who was included in the Labour seat total by some media outlets. By longstanding convention, the speaker severs all ties to their affiliated party upon being elected speaker.|name=Speaker}} the party's third-best result in terms of seat share following the 1997 and 2001 general elections. The party had the most seats in England for the first time since 2005, in Scotland for the first time since 2010, and retained its status as the largest party in Wales.{{Cite web |date=4 July 2024 |title=UK general election results live: Labour set for landslide as results come in across country |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn09xn9je7lt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240704043031/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn09xn9je7lt |archive-date=4 July 2024 |access-date=4 July 2024 |website=BBC News}}

In his victory speech Starmer thanked party workers for their work – including nearly five years of revamping and rebranding Labour in the face of Conservative dominance – and urged them to savour the moment, but warned them of challenges ahead and pledged his government would work for "national renewal":{{Cite web |title="UK Gets Its Future Back": Labour's Keir Starmer In Victory Speech |url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uk-gets-its-future-back-labours-keir-starmer-in-victory-speech-6037737 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705112913/https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uk-gets-its-future-back-labours-keir-starmer-in-victory-speech-6037737 |archive-date=5 July 2024 |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=NDTV.com}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=5 July 2024 |title=Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's victory speech in full |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-britain-smith-st-pancras-b1168859.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706075100/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-britain-smith-st-pancras-b1168859.html |archive-date=6 July 2024 |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}

{{Blockquote|text=We did it! You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now. And it feels good, I have to be honest. Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party. This is what it is for – a changed Labour Party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people. And across our country people will be waking up to the news, relieved that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation. And now we can look forward. Walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back. We said we would end the chaos and we will. We said we would turn the page and we have. Today we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.}}

File:Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrives at Number 10 Downing St (53836916571).jpg, 5 July 2024]]

As the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, Starmer was appointed as prime minister by King Charles III on 5 July 2024, becoming the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown, the first one to win a general election since Tony Blair, and the first Labour government formed during the reign of Charles III.{{Cite news |last=Mason |first=Rowena |date=5 July 2024 |title=Keir Starmer promises 'stability and moderation' in first speech as PM |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/keir-starmer-first-speech-prime-minister-pm-labour-downing-street |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} He and his wife, Victoria Starmer, were driven from Buckingham Palace to Downing Street. Starmer stopped the car on the way back from the palace and went on a walkabout outside Downing Street to meet cheering crowds. In his first speech as prime minister, Starmer paid tribute to the previous prime minister Rishi Sunak, saying "His achievement as the first British Asian Prime Minister of our country should not be underestimated by anyone," and also recognised "the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership" but said that the people of Britain had voted for change:{{Cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Keir Starmer's first speech as Prime Minister: 5 July 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/keir-starmers-first-speech-as-prime-minister-5-july-2024 |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}

{{Blockquote|text=You have given us a clear mandate, and we will use it to deliver change. To restore service and respect to politics, end the era of noisy performance, tread more lightly on your lives, and unite our country. Four nations, standing together again, facing down, as we have so often in our past, the challenges of an insecure world. Committed to a calm and patient rebuilding. So with respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal. Our work is urgent and we begin it today.}}

File:Prime Minister's Questions, 11 September 2024 17.jpg, 11 September 2024]]

The 2024 State Opening of Parliament outlined 39 pieces of legislation that Labour proposed to introduced in the months ahead, including bills to renationalise the railways, to strengthen the rights of workers, tackle illegal immigration, reform the House of Lords and undertake a programme to hasten the delivery of "high quality infrastructure" and housing. In addition, a number of bills proposed by Sunak's Conservative administration were also included, particularly the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which had appeared in the 2023 King's Speech, but had been abandoned after the election was called.{{Cite web |date=17 July 2024 |title=Starmer pledges growth with building and rail reforms |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c903d09jwk7o |accessdate=17 July 2024 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}}{{Cite web |last=Seddon |first=Paul |date=15 July 2024 |title=Key points in King's Speech at a glance |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51y7pqy1v3o |accessdate=17 July 2024 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}}

• The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill enabling the government to renationalise the railways.
• The Railways Bill to establish Great British Railways, a body overseeing the rail network.
• The Better Buses Bill allowing greater scope for local government to take over the running of bus services.
• The High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill to enable powers to improve rail services in northern England.
• The English Devolution Bill to facilitate the devolvement of power to elected mayors of combined authorities.
• Reform of the House of Lords. Two separate bills: to phase out the remaining hereditary peers in the House of Lords (House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill), and to increase the number of female bishops in the House (Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill).
• The Budget Responsibility Bill requiring an official budget forecast to take place ahead of a government budget. Given royal assent on 10 September 2024.HL Deb 10 September 2024 vol. 839 col. 1493{{cite book |title=Budget Responsibility Act 2024 c. 24 |publisher=The Stationery Office Limited |location=London}}
• The Pension Schemes Bill introducing new rules and requirements for private sector pension schemes.
• The Planning and Infrastructure Bill to simplify the approval process for critical infrastructure, and update compulsory purchase rules.
• The Renters' Rights Bill banning no-fault evictions and extending building safety requirements to the private sector.{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Aine |date=17 July 2024 |title=Renters' Rights Bill 'will give greater protections and end no-fault evictions' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/labour-government-reform-house-of-lords-rishi-sunak-b2581253.html |accessdate=17 July 2024 |website=The Independent}}
• The Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill curbing ground rent costs and banning forfeiture.
• The Great British Energy Bill to establish GB Energy, a state owned energy investment and generation company.
• The National Wealth Fund Bill establishing a £7.3bn fund to be invested over five years in infrastructure and green industry.
• The Water (Special Measures) Bill giving the water regulator Ofwat greater powers to prevent water company bosses from receiving bonuses, and to make water company bosses liable for any illegal activity.
• The Crime and Policing Bill to give police greater powers to deal with antisocial behaviour. The bill will also make assaulting retail workers a specific offence.
• The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill to require venues to establish procedures for dealing with terrorist threats, enacting Martyn's Law.
• The Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill requiring offenders to attend sentencing hearings and removing parental rights from convicted sex offenders.
• The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill enabling police to use anti-terrorism laws to tackle gangs who smuggle asylum seekers to the UK.
• The Employment Rights Bill introducing a number new rights for workers, and banning the "exploitative" use of zero hour contracts.
• The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill extending the right to make a claim for equal pay under the Equality Act to people from ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
• The Tobacco and Vapes Bill to bring in a phased ban on smoking.{{Cite web |last=Kirby |first=Jane |date=17 July 2024 |title=Labour revives plans to phase out smoking with Tobacco and Vapes Bill |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/chris-whitty-smoking-bill-government-nhs-b2581229.html |accessdate=17 July 2024 |website=The Independent}}
• The Mental Health Bill to tighten rules on sectioning people, and change the rules on care for people with learning difficulties.
• The Children's Wellbeing Bill requiring local authorities to keep a register of children not in full time education at school, and establish breakfast clubs for all primary schools in England.
• The Skills England Bill to establish a public body to improve and devolve skills training.
• The Conversion Practices Bill restricting "abusive" practices designed to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
• The Digital Information and Smart Data Bill enabling people to use a digital ID to buy age-restricted content and for pre-employment checks.
• The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill establishing new rules to protect critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.
• Hillsborough law: A piece of legislation requiring public servants to be truthful during public inquiries.
• A bill allowing the Crown Estate to borrow from the government in order to invest in new infrastructure projects.
• The Football Governance Bill to establish a regulator for the top five tiers of English football.
• A bill to establish an Armed Forces Commissioner with powers to inspect faulty kit and equipment.

Skills England is a new government agency that will be created by the Skills England Bill. The agency will increase flexibility within the skills training area, to properly cater for skills shortages within regional economies, and to ensure the UK trains its own workforce.{{Cite web |title=Skills England to transform opportunities and drive growth |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skills-england-to-transform-opportunities-and-drive-growth |access-date=26 July 2024 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} Starmer launched a Child Poverty Taskforce, in which expert officials from across government would work together on how best to support more than four-million children living in poverty.{{Cite web |date=17 July 2024 |title=Starmer sets up taskforce for 4m UK children in poverty |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn081lyqw44o |access-date=26 July 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

File:First_Minister_meets_Prime_Minister_(53840421342).jpg at Bute House.]]

Starmer went on a tour of the four countries of the UK and met with the leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar, and also met with the first minister of Scotland, John Swinney, at Bute House.{{cite web |title=Keir Starmer and John Swinney vow to work together despite 'differences' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd10ene4n5rt |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=BBC News}} He also met with mayors including Andy Burnham and Khan.{{Cite web |date=8 July 2024 |title=Starmer and Rayner meet local leaders for devolution talks |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cml247l74zko |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} On 18 July 2024 Starmer chaired the 4th European Political Community Summit.{{Cite web |last1=Lawless |first1=Jill |date=6 July 2024 |title=A NATO summit and mending EU relations are among first tasks for new UK leader Keir Starmer |url=https://apnews.com/article/keir-starmer-labour-challenges-ukraine-nato-gaza-0da1da8a74c6196518059d7d9fbcf77d |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706052701/https://apnews.com/article/keir-starmer-labour-challenges-ukraine-nato-gaza-0da1da8a74c6196518059d7d9fbcf77d |archive-date=6 July 2024 |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=Associated Press}} On 24 July 2024 he attended his first Prime Minister's Questions.

{{Main|Border Security Command}}

One of Starmer's first acts as prime minister was cancelling the controversial Rwanda asylum plan, claiming it to be "dead and buried."{{Cite news |last1=Riley-Smith |first1=Ben |last2=Hymas |first2=Charles |date=5 July 2024 |title=Starmer kills off Rwanda plan on first day as PM |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/05/starmer-kills-off-rwanda-plan-on-first-day-as-pm/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706181847/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/05/starmer-kills-off-rwanda-plan-on-first-day-as-pm/ |archive-date=6 July 2024 |access-date=6 July 2024 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite web |date=6 July 2024 |title=Sir Keir Starmer confirms Rwanda plan 'dead' on day one as PM |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz9dn8erg3zo |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, set out the first steps towards establishing a Border Security Command, to tackle smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel.{{Cite news |date=7 July 2024 |title=Cooper sets out plan to tackle small boat crossings |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp08vyg436jo |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=BBC News}} The command would be funded by money previously earmarked for the Rwanda plan and would be responsible for coordinating the activities of Immigration Enforcement, MI5, the Border Force and the National Crime Agency in tackling smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel.{{Cite news |last=Devlin |first=Kate |date=7 July 2024 |title=Home secretary launches new border security squad after scrapping Rishi Sunak's Rwanda plan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rwanda-small-boat-rishi-sunak-yvetter-cooper-command-b2575612.html |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=The Independent}}{{Cite news |date=7 July 2024 |title=Home Secretary Yvette Cooper launches border security command to tackle small boat gangs |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2024-07-07/home-secretary-launches-border-security-command-to-tackle-small-boats-gangs |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=ITV News}} The new office of Border Security Commander was also established, whose remit would be to lead the new command and its members, with the government expecting the appointment of the first officeholder to be made in the coming weeks.{{Cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Natasha |last2=Quinn |first2=Chay |date=7 July 2024 |title=Home Sec Yvette Cooper launches Border Security Command to 'smash Channel gangs' as leader search begins |url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/yvette-cooper-labour-channel-migrant-gangs-border-dover/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=LBC News}} A team in the Home Office was tasked with setting out the remit of the command, as well as its governance structure and its strategic direction.{{Cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Jordan |date=7 July 2024 |title=Home Secretary launches new Border Security Command to tackle small boats gangs |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/yvette-cooper-home-office-recruitment-national-crime-agency-conservatives-b1169261.html |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=The Evening Standard}}

In May 2025, following Reform UK's electoral success at the local elections, Starmer gave a press conference where he promised a significant fall in net migration by the end of the parliament and unveiled plans to curb judges' powers to block deportations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).{{Cite web |title=Starmer unveils 'tighter' immigration policy promising numbers will fall 'significantly' – live updates |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ce810e3z6dkt |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Starmer promised to reduce the number of migrants coming to the UK "significantly", stating: "Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That is a promise." Starmer refused to commit to an annual cap or target as he argued such an approach would not be "sensible". Asked to give voters more than just a promise, he said: "We do want to significantly reduce migration. I am absolutely making clear that is what it will do and that if we need to go further, we will." He also cast doubt on any threat from Reform's electoral success, claiming: "I know on a day like today, people who like politics will try to make this all about politics, about this or that strategy, targeting these voters, responding to that party. No. I am doing this because it is right, because it is fair and because it is what I believe in." Starmer's line "we risk becoming an island of strangers" when discussing tighter immigration controls was criticised by media outlets and Labour backbencher Zarah Sultana as echoing Enoch Powell's "strangers in their own country" line from his "rivers of blood" speech. He was also criticised for using the phrase "take back control" five times, which had been used as Vote Leave's slogan during the 2016 European Union membership referendum.{{Cite news |last=Crace |first=John |date=2025-05-12 |title=The race to the bottom is on as Starmer delivers his great immigration reset |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/12/starmer-delivers-some-home-truths-in-labours-great-immigration-reset |access-date=2025-05-12 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Farage accused Starmer of being "insincere" and warned he was "playing catch up" on the issue of immigration, stating "I was using take back control in 2004. Keir Starmer has spent his whole career campaigning for free movement of people wholly unconcerned about this subject, so much so that their massive parliamentary majority was gained without immigration even being one of their five main priorities. Now, of course, he knows that amongst the great British public, this issue rates even higher than the health service. And he's just basically playing catch up with Reform."{{Cite web |title=Nigel Farage lays into 'insincere' Keir Starmer as PM accused of copying Brexit slogan |url=https://www.gbnews.com/politics/nigel-farage-keir-starmer-brexit-slogan-migration |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=www.gbnews.com |language=en}}

{{Main|Chancellorship of Rachel Reeves}}

File:Rachel_Reeves_Chancellor.jpg, Rachel Reeves, 6 July 2024]]

Starmer has suggested that he favours green policies to tackle climate change and decarbonise the British economy. He has committed to eliminate fossil fuels from the UK electricity grid by 2030.{{cite web |last=Cooper |first=Charlie |date=7 September 2023 |title=Labour's Keir Starmer is a green activist to his core |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-labour-keir-starmer-is-a-green-activist-to-his-core/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230913023824/https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-labour-keir-starmer-is-a-green-activist-to-his-core/ |archive-date=13 September 2023 |access-date=13 September 2023 |website=Politico}} In 2021 Starmer and Rachel Reeves pledged that a Labour government would invest an extra £28 billion per year in green industries; in June 2023 this was changed to £28 billion per year by the middle of their first term of government.{{cite news |last=Morton |first=Becky |date=9 June 2023 |title=Rachel Reeves waters down Labour £28bn green projects pledge |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65853872 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920204515/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65853872 |archive-date=20 September 2023 |access-date=13 September 2023 |publisher=BBC News}}

Since 2022 Reeves has adhered to "modern supply-side economics", an economic policy which focuses on infrastructure, education and labour supply by rejecting tax cuts and deregulation.{{cite web |last=Wearmouth |first=Rachel |date=25 July 2022 |title=Why Keir Starmer has borrowed the Tories' "magic money tree" attack line |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2022/07/keir-starmer-borrowed-tories-magic-money-tree-attack-line |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=New Statesman}}{{cite web |last=Reeves |first=Rachel |date=7 July 2022 |title=The Tories have left our economy in a mess. This is how Labour would fix 12 years of damage |url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/the-tories-have-left-our-economy-in-a-mess-this-is-how-labour-would-fix-12-years-of-damage-1730293 |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=inews.co.uk}} In May 2023, Reeves coined the term "securonomics" to refer to her version of this economic policy, originally in a public address at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.{{cite news |last=Cowley |first=Jason |date=7 June 2023 |title=The Reeves doctrine: Labour's plan for power |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2023/06/reeves-doctrine-labours-plan-power-shadow-chancellor-washington-dc-jason-cowley |access-date=9 June 2023 |magazine=New Statesman}}{{cite web |date=24 May 2023 |title=Labour brands economic policy 'securonomics' with focus on active state |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/business/labour-brands-economic-policy-securonomics-with-focus-on-active-state-b2344585.html |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=The Independent}} It was heavily inspired by the economic policy of Joe Biden, the former president of the United States, particularly his Inflation Reduction Act.{{cite news |date=24 May 2023 |title=Rachel Reeves unveils Labour's Joe Biden-inspired economic strategy |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65695598 |access-date=10 June 2023 |work=BBC News}}{{cite web |last=Cree |first=Richard |date=25 May 2023 |title=Labour launches economic plan built on a UK-version of 'Bidenomics' |url=https://www.export.org.uk/news/641341/Labour-launches-economic-plan-built-on-a-UK-version-of-Bidenomics.htm |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=The Institute of Export and International Trade}}

Securonomics is based on the belief that globalisation has failed to achieve its stated aims and that economies in the Western world must adapt in response.{{cite web |last=Self |first=Josh |date=30 May 2023 |title=Keir Starmer's American dream |url=https://www.politics.co.uk/5-minute-read/2023/05/30/keir-starmers-american-dream/ |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=Politics.co.uk}} Reeves suggested that the active state is part of an "emerging global consensus" which will replace the neoliberal economic consensus, and that economic policy must be driven by the need for security.{{cite news |last=Parker |first=George |date=23 May 2023 |title=Rachel Reeves embraces 'Bidenomics' as blueprint for a Labour government |url=https://www.ft.com/content/87b8e568-70e5-410b-8ded-6cfafb9dcd29 |access-date=10 June 2023 |work=Financial Times}}

On taking office as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Reeves stated that since there is "not a huge amount of money" her focus will be on "unlocking" private-sector investment, as she believes "private-sector investment is the lifeblood of a successful economy."{{cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Reeves: 'There's not a huge amount of money' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cldyeykzp33o |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=BBC News}}{{cite news |last1=Maddox |first1=David |date=5 July 2024 |title=Rachel Reeves becomes first female chancellor and Rayner deputy PM as Starmer appoints top team |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-cabinet-keir-starmer-who-general-election-b2574493.html |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=Independent}}{{Cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Chancellor Rachel Reeves statement to HM Treasury – 5 July 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-rachel-reeves-statement-to-hm-treasury-5-july-2024 |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} She made her first statement as Chancellor two days later, announcing measures she said were aimed to grow the economy. On 29 July 2024 Reeves conducted a spending review, arguing there was a need to make "necessary and urgent decisions" because of an "unfunded" and "undisclosed" overspending of £21.9 billion by the previous Conservative government. Among the decisions she made were to axe winter fuel payments for pensioners not receiving pension credit (roughly around 10 million people), which received widespread criticism. She also announced the cancellation of several infrastructure projects, and selling surplus public sector buildings and land.{{cite web |title=Rachel Reeves's spending audit at-a-glance |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1r7d76vdlo |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=BBC News|date=29 July 2024 }} Reeves' first budget took place on 30 October 2024, which introduced the largest tax rises at a budget since March 1993 and is forecast to set the tax burden to its highest level in recorded history.{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=9 September 2024 |title=Why is Labour's proposed winter fuel payments cut controversial? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/09/explainer-uk-labour-winter-fuel-payments-cut |work=The Guardian}}

In January 2025 Reeves announced plans for a new runway at Heathrow Airport as part of a push for "growth".{{Cite web |date=29 January 2025 |title=Rachel Reeves backs Heathrow third runway in growth push |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg4d97wxgdo |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Regulators were also asked to "tear down regulatory barriers" to promote economic growth.{{Cite web |title=Chancellor calls on watchdog bosses to tear down regulatory barriers that hold back growth |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-calls-on-watchdog-bosses-to-tear-down-regulatory-barriers-that-hold-back-growth |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} On 25 February 2025, Starmer announced plans to increase the defence budget to 2.5 per cent of the British gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027—paid for by cutting the UK's international aid budget to 0.3 per cent.{{Cite web |date=25 February 2025 |title=Keir Starmer cuts aid to fund hike in defence spending |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrkkv4gd7o |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Save the Children described the cuts as "a betrayal of the world's most vulnerable children and the UK's national interest".{{Cite web |last=Doherty |first=Caitlin |date=25 February 2025 |title=Charities 'shocked' and 'stunned' by decision to cut aid to fund defence spending |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/charities-keir-starmer-prime-minister-sarah-champion-vladimir-putin-b1213166.html |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=The Standard |language=en}}

In April 2025 Starmer recalled Parliament from recess for a Saturday sitting to debate the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill, emergency legislation to prevent the closure of Scunthorpe Steelworks.{{cite web |author1=Jasper Jolly |title=Government scrambles to save British Steel as firm faces crisis within crisis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/11/government-scrambles-to-save-british-steel-as-company-faces-crises-within-crises |website=The Guardian |access-date=12 April 2025 |date=11 April 2025}} The bill is seen as a first step towards the nationalisation of British Steel.{{cite web |author1=Kate Devlin |author2=Rebecca Thomas |title=British Steel latest: Nationalisation 'likely' says business secretary as MPs debate emergency law |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-steel-keir-starmer-parliament-recalled-latest-updates-b2731943.html |website=The Independent |date=12 April 2025 |access-date=12 April 2025}}

{{Main|October 2024 United Kingdom budget}}

File:The Chancellor delivers the Autumn Budget 2024.jpg

The October 2024 budget was presented by Reeves on 30 October 2024. In it she announced tax rises worth £40 billion, the biggest tax rise at a budget since March 1993.{{Cite web |title=Budget 2024: Biggest tax rise since 1993 – with employers to bear the brunt |url=https://news.sky.com/story/budget-2024-employers-national-insurance-rise-is-bigger-than-predicted-as-chancellor-seeks-to-raise-40bn-in-taxes-13244557#:~:text=The%20OBR%20said,%20as%20a,rates%20will%20both%20be%20higher. |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=Sky News |language=en}} Amongst the measures she announced were an increase in employers' National Insurance to 15 per cent on salaries above £5,000 from April 2025,{{Cite news |last1=Burton |first1=Lucy |last2=Boland |first2=Hannah |last3=Field |first3=Matthew |date=31 October 2024 |title=Employers warn of crisis as Reeves increases NI contributions |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/31/employers-warn-crisis-rachel-reeves-national-insurance/ |access-date=31 October 2024 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}} income tax thresholds to rise in-line with inflation after 2028, changes to farm inheritance tax meaning that the inheritance tax of 20 per cent would effectively apply to rural estates above the value of £1,000,000 from April 2026,{{Cite news |last1=Horton |first1=Helena |last2=reporter |first2=Helena Horton Environment |date=31 October 2024 |title=Why UK farmers may be left worse off by the budget |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/31/why-uk-farmers-may-be-left-worse-off-by-the-budget |access-date=31 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} and a rise in the single bus fare cap to £3 from January 2025.{{Cite web |date=28 October 2024 |title=Single bus fares to rise to £3 from £2 in England under new cap |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0l99xz719o |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} The forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) stated that the budget would mean the tax burden would be set to its highest ever level in recorded history.{{Cite web |last=Hazell |first=Will |date=30 October 2024 |title=Tax burden set to rise to highest level ever after Budget – here's why |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/tax-burden-set-to-rise-to-highest-level-ever-after-budget-heres-why-3353421 |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=inews.co.uk |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=30 October 2024 |title=Newspaper headlines: 'Reeves' £40bn tax gamble' and 'bombshell for Britain's strivers' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c170exnp9wyo |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Reeves promised to be the iron chancellor – but her first budget brings dramatic change |url=https://news.sky.com/story/rachel-reeves-promised-to-be-the-iron-chancellor-but-labour-hasnt-delivered-on-its-manifesto-13244830 |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=Sky News |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=30 October 2024 |title=Historical benchmarks and milestones in Rachel Reeves' first Budget |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/national/24690079.historical-benchmarks-milestones-rachel-reeves-first-budget/ |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=The Herald |language=en}} The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, accused Reeves of further undermining trust in politicians.{{Cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Archie |last2=Maddox |first2=David |last3=Cooke |first3=Millie |date=1 November 2024 |title=Reeves admits tax hikes will hit working people as IFS accuses chancellor of 'undermining trust' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-tax-reeves-spending-ifs-b2639011.html |work=Independent}} Reeves later said that it was not a budget she would want to repeat,{{Cite web |date=30 October 2024 |title=This is not a Budget we want to repeat, says Rachel Reeves |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86q31wlj39o |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} and accepted that the tax rises would likely hit wage growth for workers.{{Cite web |title=Reeves accepts tax-raising Budget likely to hit wage growth for workers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp9zrg128get |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

{{Main|March 2025 United Kingdom spring statement}}

The 2025 spring budget statement was delivered to the House of Commons by Reeves on 26 March 2025.{{cite news |date=26 March 2025 |title=Rachel Reeves squeezes benefits as 2025 growth forecast halved in Spring Statement |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz7v4370d2xo |work=BBC News}} There was emphasis on increasing defence spending.{{Cite news |date=2025-03-25 |title=Spring Statement: Reeves to make further welfare cuts but boost defence |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4y9v8xwvmo |access-date=2025-03-26 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Major welfare announcements included restrictions on universal credit and its health-related element in particular, and eligibility for personal independence payments. The health-related element of universal credit will no longer be available to young people aged under 22.{{Cite news |date=2025-03-09 |title=Spring Statement 2025: Key points at a glance |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qjn879lr4o |access-date=2025-03-26 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} 10,000 Civil Service jobs are set to be cut.{{Cite news |date=24 March 2025 |title=Civil service to axe 10,000 jobs, Chancellor Rachel Reeves says – as she eyes cutting £2bn in costs |url=https://news.sky.com/story/civil-service-to-axe-10-000-jobs-chancellor-rachel-reeves-says-as-she-eyes-cutting-2bn-in-costs-13334155 |access-date=2025-03-26 |work=Sky News |language=en}} Late payment penalties related to VAT and self-assessed income tax liabilities will be increased from 6 April 2025: the new rates will be 3% of the tax outstanding where tax is overdue by 15 days, a further 3% where either tax is overdue by 30 days, and an additional 10% per annum where either tax is overdue by 31 days or more.H M Treasury, [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e562fc33afcd62e4ca4c9e/SS25_Published_Costing_Document.pdf Spring Statement 2025: Policy Costings], p. 22, accessed on 28 March 2025

File:Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives his Inheritance speech in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom on 27 August 2024 - 10.jpg

Shortly after taking office, Starmer said that there were "too many prisoners",{{Cite web |date=6 July 2024 |title=We have too many prisoners, says new PM Keir Starmer |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c16jpkzz9g3o |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} and described the previous government as having acted with "almost beyond recklessness".{{Cite web |title=Sir Keir Starmer does not rule out 20,000 prisoners being released early |url=https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-does-not-rule-out-20-000-prisoners-being-released-early-13176700 |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Sky News |language=en}} In order to manage the prison overcrowding, his Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced the implementation of an early release scheme which allowed for prisoners in England and Wales to be released after serving 40 per cent of their sentences rather than the 50 per cent previously introduced under the last government.{{Cite web |title=Thousands of prisoners to be released early to ease overcrowding |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crg5vp0296eo |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=www.bbc.com |date=12 July 2024 |language=en-GB}} Over 1,700 prisoners were released in September, with further releases expected in the following year.{{Cite web |date=10 September 2024 |title=Prisoners released early but some victims 'not warned' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23ljkrx0e2o |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} One prisoner released early under the scheme was charged with sexual assault relating to an alleged offence against a woman on the same day he was freed.{{cite web |title=Government defends early release scheme after freed prisoner charged with sexual assault |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnvdy22gje4o |website=BBC News |date=14 September 2024 |access-date=18 September 2024}} Starmer has defended the releasing of prisoners, and accused the previous government of having "broke the prison system."{{Cite web |date=11 September 2024 |title=Starmer defends releasing prisoners from jail early to free up cell space |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/prime-minister-nigel-farage-moj-commons-home-office-b2610976.html |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

{{Main|Tobacco and Vapes Bill}}

On 24 October 2024 the government announced a ban on the sale of single-use electronic cigarettes (vapes), effective from June 2025, in an effort to address environmental concerns and the rising prevalence of vaping amongst children.{{cite news |last=M |first=Muvija |date=24 October 2024 |title=UK to ban disposable vapes from June to crack down on teen use |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-ban-disposable-vapes-next-year-crack-down-teen-use-2024-10-24/ |access-date=24 October 2024 |work=Reuters}} On 5 November 2024 the government introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, aiming to protect public health and reduce the harm caused by smoking. The bill proposed measures to phase out tobacco sales for those under 15, extend the indoor smoking ban to outdoor areas and introduce stricter regulations on vaping, including a ban on vape advertising and limitations on flavours and packaging.{{cite news |date=5 November 2024 |title=Smoking ban introduced to protect children and most vulnerable |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smoking-ban-introduced-to-protect-children-and-most-vulnerable |access-date=5 November 2024 |work=GOV.UK}}

The bill was supported by health organisations,{{Cite web |last= |date=5 November 2024 |title=New Tobacco and Vapes Bill backed by public, health charities and politicians |url=https://ash.org.uk/media-centre/news/press-releases/new-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-backed-by-public-health-charities-and-politicians |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=Action on Smoking and Health |language=en}} including Cancer Research UK, Action on Smoking and Health and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.{{Cite web |title=Organisations representing 850,000 healthcare professionals urge MPs to back Tobacco & Vapes Bill |url=https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/news-events/news/organisations-representing-850000-healthcare-professionals-urge-mps-back-tobacco |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=RCPCH |language=en}} In a poll conducted by YouGov in August 2024, 61 per cent of UK adults supported the efforts to phase out smoking by banning it for people born after 1 January 2009, while 27 per cent opposed it. 81 per cent supported the banning of disposable vapes, while 13 per cent opposed it.{{Cite web |date=30 August 2024 |title=Smoking {{!}} YouGov Survey Results |url=https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Internal_Smoking_240830.pdf |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=YouGov}}

{{Main|Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill}}

Starmer is a longtime supporter of the campaign for assisted dying or doctor-assisted voluntary euthanasia in the UK. On 13 March 2024 he pledged to give MPs a vote on assisted suicide if Labour won the 2024 general election.{{Cite news |last=Riley-Smith |first=Ben |date=13 March 2024 |title=Starmer promises vote on legalising assisted dying |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/13/keir-starmer-vote-legalise-assisted-dying-esther-rantzen/ |access-date=21 November 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |issn=0307-1235}} He phoned the pro-assisted dying campaigner Esther Rantzen and said to her: "I'm personally in favour of changing the law. I think we need to make time. We will make the commitment. Esther, I can give you that commitment right now... For people who are going through this or are likely to go through it in the next few months or years, this matters hugely and delay just prolongs the agony."

In September 2024 Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, was drawn first in the ballot for private members' bills. She announced on 3 October 2024 that she would introduce a bill on assisted dying, and on 16 October 2024 the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons. The full text of the bill (as presented for second reading) was published on 11 November 2024. Starmer acknowledged the vote for Leadbeater's bill as being "very important".{{cite web |title=Kim Leadbeater defends assisted dying Bill in face of efforts to stop it |url=https://www.radionewshub.com/articles/news-updates/Kim-Leadbeater-defends-assisted-dying-Bill-in-face-of-efforts-to-stop-it |access-date=28 November 2024 |website=Radio NewsHub |date=27 November 2024 }} Additionally, Starmer noted Parliament's future intentions to strengthen NHS care for all needs, "including end-of-life care."{{cite web |title=Kim Leadbeater defends assisted dying Bill in face of efforts to stop it |url=https://www.radionewshub.com/articles/news-updates/Kim-Leadbeater-defends-assisted-dying-Bill-in-face-of-efforts-to-stop-it |access-date=28 November 2024 |website=Radio NewHub |date=27 November 2024 |publisher=Radio News Hub}}

In Government, Starmer reaffirmed the outgoing Conservative government's commitment of no new HIV cases in the United Kingdom by 2030. On 10 February 2025 Starmer, alongside the singer and HIV activist Beverley Knight and the Terrence Higgins Trust chief executive Richard Angell, recorded himself taking a rapid HIV home test. This made Starmer the first serving British prime minister and serving leader of a G7 nation to take a test on camera.{{cite news|url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/keir-starmer-leads-by-example-first-pm-public-hiv-test/|title=Keir Starmer 'leads by example' as he becomes first PM to have public HIV test as part of goal to eliminate virus|last=Soteriou|first=Emma|date=10 February 2025|work=LBC|accessdate=10 February 2025}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/02/10/keir-starmer-hiv-test-reduce-stigma/|title=Keir Starmer takes home HIV test to help reduce stigma|last=Hansford|first=Amelia|date=10 February 2025|work=PinkNews|accessdate=10 February 2025}}

{{Main|2024 Southport stabbing|2024 United Kingdom riots}}

File:Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives an update following COBRA (53906780993).jpg meeting to discuss the violent disorder across the country, 6 August 2024]]On 29 July 2024, following a mass stabbing occurred at a dance studio in Southport in which a 17-year-old boy named Axel Rudakubana killed three children and injured ten others – eight of whom were children at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop. Starmer described the murders as horrendous and shocking and thanked emergency services for their swift response.{{cite news |date=29 July 2024 |title=Southport incident 'horrendous and deeply shocking' – Starmer |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cevwgqz0x41t?post=asset%3A2ad0f578-b872-4a07-8f8c-3686d067b045#post |access-date=29 July 2024 |work=BBC News |quote=I would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response.}} He later wrote amidst the riots across the country following the stabbing that those who had "hijacked the vigil for the victims" had "insulted the community as it grieves" and that rioters would feel the full force of the law.{{cite news |date=30 July 2024 |title=Prime minister: Rioters will 'feel the full force of the law' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2024/jul/30/southport-stabbing-latest-knife-attack-children-hospital-merseyside?page=with%3Ablock-66a965bf8f089a1d7c5fb7ff#block-66a965bf8f089a1d7c5fb7ff |access-date=30 July 2024 |newspaper=The Guardian}} On 1 August, following a meeting with senior police officers, Starmer announced the establishment of the National Violent Disorder Programme to facilitate greater cooperation between police forces when dealing with violent disorder.{{Cite web |last=Fatima |first=Zahra |date=1 August 2024 |title=Starmer announces new plan for police forces to tackle violent disorder |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnk4e5g70pko |accessdate=1 August 2024 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}} On 4 August Starmer said that rioters "will feel the full force of the law" and told them "You will regret taking part in this, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves". He added "I won't shy away from calling it what it is – far-right thuggery".{{cite news |date=4 August 2024 |title=PM condemns 'far-right thuggery' on UK streets and says those involved 'will regret it' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0jqjxe8d1yt?post=asset%3A1e537bd2-42e2-46bb-9dc2-db5e92a76414#post |access-date=4 August 2024 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite web |date=4 August 2024 |title=UK riots: Sir Keir Starmer condemns 'far-right thuggery' |url=https://news.sky.com/story/uk-riots-sir-keir-starmer-condemns-far-right-thuggery-13190805 |accessdate=4 August 2024 |website=Sky News}} Starmer later called an emergency response meeting of Cobra.{{Cite news |last=Clarke-Billings |first=Lucy |date=4 August 2024 |title=UK protests: No 10 to hold Cobra meeting over escalating violence |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwddpzyxpzo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805011114/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwddpzyxpzo |archive-date=5 August 2024 |access-date=5 August 2024 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} After the Cobra meeting he announced the establishment of a "standing army" of specialist police officers to address the violence, and help bring it to an end.{{Cite web |date=5 August 2024 |title=Starmer creates 'standing army' of specialist police officers to crush rioters |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-standing-army-specialist-police-riots-b2591415.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805235225/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-standing-army-specialist-police-riots-b2591415.html |archive-date=5 August 2024 |access-date=6 August 2024 |website=The Independent}}

Starmer rejected calls from some MPs – including Labour MP Diane Abbott, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Conservative Priti Patel – to recall Parliament to Westminster.{{Cite web |last=Whannel |first=Kate |date=5 August 2024 |title=Keir Starmer rejects calls for recall of Parliament |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevjjgy278ro |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805145336/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevjjgy278ro |archive-date=5 August 2024 |access-date=5 August 2024 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}} Farage condemned the violence as having "no place in a functioning democracy" but suggested "soft policing" during Black Lives Matter protests had contributed to a "sense of injustice" and an impression of "two-tier policing".{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Millie |date=5 August 2024 |title=Farage joins calls for Parliament to be recalled and claims 'soft policing' at BLM protests to blame for riots |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-riots-nigel-farage-recall-parliament-b2591246.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805213959/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-riots-nigel-farage-recall-parliament-b2591246.html |archive-date=5 August 2024 |access-date=5 August 2024 |work=The Independent}} Patel called Farage's comments deeply misleading and "simply not relevant". She said: "There's a clear difference between effectively blocking streets or roads being closed to burning down libraries, hotels, food banks and attacking places of worship. What we have seen is thuggery, violence, racism." Patel also wrote to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, asking them to recall parliament.{{cite web |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=5 August 2024 |title=Priti Patel criticises Nigel Farage for comparing far-right riots to BLM protests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/05/priti-patel-criticises-nigel-farage-response-far-right-riots |website=The Guardian}}

After Starmer said "large social media companies and those who run them" were contributing to the disorder, the American businessman and political figure Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, criticised him for not condemning all participants in the riots and only blaming the far-right.{{Cite news |last1=Riley-Smith |first1=Ben |last2=Penna |first2=Dominic |date=5 August 2024 |title=Starmer clashes with Musk over UK riot remarks |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/05/starmer-attacks-musk-over-claims-uk-civil-war-is-inevitable/ |access-date=5 August 2024 |work=The Telegraph |issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite web |date=8 January 2025 |title=A history of Elon Musk and Keir Starmer's relationship |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/elon-musk-keir-starmer-grooming-gangs-b2675713.html |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=The Independent |language=en}} Musk also responded to a tweet which said the riots were due to "mass migration and open borders" by tweeting, "Civil war is inevitable". His comments were condemned by Starmer's official spokesman.{{cite news |last1=Gregory |first1=Andy |last2=Cooke |first2=Millie |date=5 August 2024 |title=Downing Street condemns Elon Musk for claim 'civil war is inevitable' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/elon-musk-civil-war-uk-riots-b2591213.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805174350/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/elon-musk-civil-war-uk-riots-b2591213.html |archive-date=5 August 2024 |access-date=19 November 2024 |newspaper=The Independent}}{{cite news |last1=Cecil |first1=Nicholas |date=5 August 2024 |title=UK riots: No10 slaps down Elon Musk for 'civil war is inevitable' post |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/riots-social-media-southport-rotherham-liverpool-twitter-elon-musk-b1174760.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805184022/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/riots-social-media-southport-rotherham-liverpool-twitter-elon-musk-b1174760.html |archive-date=5 August 2024 |access-date=19 November 2024 |newspaper=Evening Standard}}{{cite web |title=What is Elon Musk's game plan? |date=7 August 2024 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5gd1jzkeo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807125803/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5gd1jzkeo |archive-date=7 August 2024 |access-date=19 November 2024 |publisher=BBC News}} Musk further said Starmer was responsible for a "two-tier" policing system which did not protect all communities in the United Kingdom,{{Cite web |date=8 August 2024 |title=Elon Musk lashes out at the UK again as Sunak holidays in California |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/elon-musk-riots-rishi-sunak-b2593155.html |website=The Independent}}{{cite news |date=6 August 2024 |title=Musk brands Starmer 'two-tier Keir' amid row over riot policing |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/06/riots-police-tackle-all-sides-equal-ferocity-two-tier/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807004921/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/06/riots-police-tackle-all-sides-equal-ferocity-two-tier/ |archive-date=7 August 2024 |access-date=7 August 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite web |date=7 August 2024 |title=UK disorder: What's Elon Musk's game? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5gd1jzkeo |access-date=7 August 2024 |website=BBC News}} and subsequently shared a conspiracy theory that Starmer's government was planning to build detainment camps in the Falkland Islands to hold far-right rioters. In response, Starmer said: "my focus is on ensuring our communities are safe. That is my sole focus. I think it's very important for us all to support the police in what they're doing".{{cite web |title=Musk shares faked far-right 'detainment camp' for rioters post |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp35w0kj2y4o |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808133009/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp35w0kj2y4o |archive-date=8 August 2024 |access-date=9 August 2024 |website=bbc.com |date=8 August 2024 |publisher=BBC}}{{cite news |last1=Luce |first1=Edward |date=9 August 2024 |title=Elon Musk and the danger to democracy |url=https://www.ft.com/content/bdd100a8-4817-44f6-9838-bda760aaebf1 |newspaper=Financial Times}}

After Rudakubana's guilty plea on 20 January 2025, Cooper announced a public inquiry, stating that the victims' families "needed answers about what had happened leading up to the attack".{{cite news |last1=Whannel |first1=Kate |date=20 January 2025 |title=Public inquiry into Southport attack announced |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3exxl8zp8o |access-date=20 January 2025 |work=BBC News}} This was followed by Starmer's promise to overhaul terrorism laws to reflect the type of non-ideological killings characterised by individuals like Rudakubana, stressing the threat from "acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake".{{Cite news |date=2025-01-21 |title=UK ministers pledge to overhaul terror laws amid Southport murders outcry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/21/uk-ministers-pledge-overhaul-terror-laws-southport-murders |access-date=2025-01-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=}} Significant attention was drawn to Prevent for failing to accept referrals of Rudakubana on the basis of him lacking a terrorist ideology. Although an emergency review found that Prevent had followed correct procedures on each referral, Cooper concluded "that too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology" in the programme. Cooper announced that there would be a review on the threshold at which Prevent intervenes, with the senior lawyer David Anderson being assigned by Starmer as the Independent Prevent Commissioner to perform the review.{{Cite web |title=PM statement on the Southport public inquiry: 21 January 2025 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-statement-on-the-southport-public-inquiry-21-january-2025 |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}

{{Main|Oldham Council|Grenfell Tower Inquiry}}

File:Jess Phillips official portrait, 2024 (cropped).jpg, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls]]

In October 2024 Jess Phillips, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, rejected Oldham Council's request for an independent public inquiry into the Oldham child sexual exploitation scandal, favouring a locally-run inquiry instead.{{cite news |date=2 January 2025 |title=Kemi Badenoch calls for national inquiry into 'rape gangs' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4xnv02nr0o |access-date=7 January 2025 |work=BBC News}} On 2 January 2025, the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, called for a national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation, criticising the Labour government for not supporting a government-led inquiry into Oldham.{{cite news |date=2 January 2025 |title=Kemi Badenoch calls for 'long overdue' national inquiry into UK grooming scandal |url=https://news.sky.com/story/kemi-badenoch-calls-for-long-overdue-national-inquiry-into-uk-grooming-scandal-13282797 |accessdate=7 January 2025 |work=Sky News}}{{cite web |title=Kemi Badenoch calls for national inquiry into UK's 'rape gangs scandal' |url=https://www.theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/national/24828530.kemi-badenoch-calls-national-inquiry-uks-rape-gangs-scandal/ |accessdate=7 January 2025}} Phillips said that the previous Conservative government, of which Badenoch was a part, had also supported a local inquiry in Oldham.{{cite news |date=7 January 2025 |title=Jess Phillips hits back at Elon Musk and says he should 'crack on with getting to Mars' |url=https://news.sky.com/story/jess-phillips-has-more-important-things-to-think-about-than-elon-musk-13285103 |access-date=7 January 2025 |work=Sky News |language=en}}

Musk called Phillips a "rape genocide apologist" and suggested she was attempting to shield Starmer from blame since he led the Crown Prosecution Service when the abuse occurred.{{Cite news |last=Penna |first=Dominic |date=2 January 2025 |title=Elon Musk: Jess Phillips deserves to be in prison over Labour refusal to launch grooming inquiry |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/02/elon-musk-jess-phillips-oldham-council-grooming-inquiry/ |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite web |date=6 January 2025 |title=Labour minister slams Elon Musk after suggesting Jess Phillips 'deserves to be in prison' over grooming gang handling |url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/elon-musk-grooming-gangs-uk-labour-inquiry/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=LBC |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=6 January 2025 |title=Starmer hits back at Musk and 'poison of the far-right' |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/uk/2025/0106/1489301-uk-politics/ |access-date=6 January 2025 |website=Raidió Teilifís Éireann}}

Starmer was head of the CPS in 2009 when a decision was made not to prosecute an individual who was part of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring; however, there is no evidence Starmer was personally involved in the decision.{{cite news |title=No evidence Keir Starmer tried to block the prosecution of Muslim grooming gangs |url=https://fullfact.org/online/starmer-muslim-grooming-prosecution-crime/ |access-date=30 August 2024 |work=Full Fact |date=28 July 2022}} In response, Starmer said politicians and activists were "spreading lies and misinformation" over grooming gangs, and were appealing to the far-right.{{efn|Starmer said: "When politicians, and I mean politicians, who sat in government for many years are casual about honesty, decency, truth and the rule of law, calling for inquiries because they want to jump on a bandwagon of the far-right, then that affects politics because a robust debate can only be based on the true facts and that is why this is actually an important point about our politics, not about what anybody may or may not say on Twitter. My fight to change the way that the prosecution service operated is a matter of public record. Making sure the men responsible for these despicable acts were brought to justice. Put in the dock... then behind bars. That is why I brought the first prosecution for a grooming gang. Far-right voices have tried to rewrite history. Those spreading lies and misinformation are not interested in the victims. Those cheerleading for Tommy Robinson – a thug who was jailed for almost collapsing a grooming case – are not interested in justice. They are only interested in themselves."}}{{Cite news |last1=Sparrow |first1=Andrew |last2=Badshah |first2=Nadeem |date=6 January 2025 |title=UK politics: Yvette Cooper says victims and survivors panel being set up after child abuse inquiry recommendations – as it happened |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/jan/06/uk-politics-keir-starmer-nhs-reforms-grooming-gangs-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with:block-677bb40b8f0856c711c8b01b#block-677bb40b8f0856c711c8b01b |access-date=14 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{cite news |title=PM attacks those 'spreading lies' on grooming gangs as he hits back at Musk |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75wp53vk1lo |work=BBC News}} Professor Alexis Jay, who chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said: "It doesn't need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done." Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a government-backed Oldham inquiry, and a nationwide review of evidence, on 16 January 2025.{{Cite web |date=2025-01-21 |title=Oldham child abuse survivors say inquiry must set politics aside |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78wjq9x90yo |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2025-01-16 |title=Yvette Cooper announces inquiries into grooming gangs |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9w5l4vxv2qo |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

In May 2025, Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell described discussion of rape gangs as a "dog whistle", which was condemned by survivors of the abuse.{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/04/rape-gang-survivors-labour-minister-dog-whistle-comments/ | title=Rape gang survivors attack Labour minister after 'dog whistle' comment | work=The Telegraph | date=4 May 2025 | last1=Penna | first1=Dominic }} Reform UK called her comments "abhorrent" and asked the Prime Minister to consider sacking Powell{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2ew9jnj2p1o | title=Labour minister Lucy Powell sorry over grooming gangs 'dog whistle' remark | date=3 May 2025 }} while the Conservatives called on her to resign.{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lucy-powell-dog-whistle-grooming-gangs-b2744592.html | title=Labour minister urged to quit over 'dog whistle' remark on grooming gangs | website=Independent.co.uk | date=4 May 2025 }} She subsequently apologised.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/04/no-10-backs-lucy-powell-after-her-apology-for-grooming-gangs-remark | title=No 10 backs Lucy Powell after her apology for grooming gangs remark | work=The Guardian | date=4 May 2025 | last1=Mason | first1=Rowena }}

On 5 February 2025, Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, told bereaved relatives and survivors of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire that a decision had been made to demolish Grenfell Tower.{{cite news |last1=Foster |first1=Aurelia |date=5 February 2025 |title=Grenfell to be demolished, bereaved families told |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5g99xy979o |access-date=5 February 2025 |work=BBC News}} The plans were confirmed on 7 February 2025, with dismantling of the tower expected to take two years.{{cite news |last1=Aikman |first1=Ian |date=7 February 2025 |title=Grenfell Tower to be taken down, government confirms |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwxpnxyrnvo |access-date=7 February 2025 |work=BBC News}} Rayner said that regulators had failed and that her department had "failed to act on known risks and ignored, delayed, or disregarded matters affecting the safety of life".{{cite news |last1=Symonds |first1=Tom |date=26 February 2025 |title=Seven organisations to be investigated over Grenfell fire |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg1eje2jg4o |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=BBC News}} Starmer previously made a statement about the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report on 4 September 2024, stating the bereaved relatives and survivors had "been let down so badly" and there must be "full accountability" for the "decades of failure by central government."{{Cite web |date=2024-09-04 |title=Prime Minister's statement on Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report: 4 September 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-ministers-statement-on-grenfell-tower-inquiry-final-report-4-september-2024 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}

File:Liz Kendall Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped) 2.jpg, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions]]

Since her appointment as Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall has initiated a series of reforms aimed at reshaping the UK's welfare system. One of her primary objectives has been to shift the Department for Work and Pensions from merely administering benefits to actively promoting employment. In a speech in Barnsley, Kendall said the need to address factors such as health, skills, childcare, and transport, which significantly influence individuals ability to secure and maintain employment.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-23 |title=DWP must focus on work not welfare, says minister |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce78jer1wgko?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}

Kendall proposed the "Youth Guarantee" for 18 to 21-year-olds, designed to ensure that young people are either earning or learning. This program offers opportunities for training or employment, with the stipulation that refusal to participate could result in benefit reductions. Kendall noted the importance of early career engagement, saying that unemployment during youth can have long-term detrimental effects on job prospects and earning potential.{{Cite web |date=2024-11-24 |title=Young people who refuse to work to lose benefits, says minister |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp35r0v7q95o?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

A significant aspect of Kendall's reform agenda involves tightening eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and incapacity benefits. These measures aim to save approximately £5 billion annually by the end of the decade. The proposed changes are expected to affect around one million people, particularly those with mental health conditions and minor physical difficulties.{{Cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Anna |last2=Pickard |first2=Jim |date=2025-03-17 |title=1mn fewer people to secure health benefits under UK welfare reform |url=https://www.ft.com/content/bf28336c-eb08-4aef-b424-ba7e3f1c0ec6?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-03-18 |work=Financial Times}}

The proposed disability benefits reforms have sparked considerable debate. Disability charities and opposition parties have criticized the cuts, labeling them as devastating and immoral. Organisations such as the Disability Benefits Consortium, Scope, and Mind argue that these changes could push disabled individuals further into poverty and exacerbate health issues, highlighting the potential social impact of the reforms.{{Cite news |last=Sparrow |first=Andrew |date=2025-03-18 |title=Up to 1.2m people could lose between £4,200 and £6,300 per year from changes to Pip, Resolution Foundation says – as it happened |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/mar/18/disability-benefits-cuts-pip-liz-kendall-labour-kemi-badenoch-conservatives-uk-politics-latest-updates-news?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-03-18 |work=the Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

In response to the backlash, Kendall has emphasised the need for a balanced approach that ensures fiscal responsibility while protecting vulnerable populations. She acknowledges the concerns raised by disability advocates and noted the importance of reinvesting savings into employment programs to support those on health-related benefits, aiming to create a more equitable system.{{Cite news |last1=Grice |first1=Maisie |last2=Gross |first2=Anna |last3=Strauss |first3=Delphine |date=2025-03-18 |title=Labour unveils disability benefits cuts that aim to save over £5bn |url=https://www.ft.com/content/0cc2d3f0-7ed8-4ee4-aa41-313fd3fb4463?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-03-18 |work=Financial Times}}

Kendall's tenure has also been marked by internal party challenges. Some Labour MPs have expressed apprehension regarding the impact of welfare reforms on disadvantaged communities. The historical context of previous welfare cuts serves as a cautionary backdrop, prompting calls for the party to uphold its commitment to social justice while pursuing necessary fiscal reforms.{{Cite news |last=Toynbee |first=Polly |date=2025-03-18 |title=I believe Labour cares about those in need, but it must show that. It can't go on like this |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/18/labour-poor-people-government-cuts?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-03-18 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

====Railways====

On 25 May 2025, Labour's renationalisation of the UK's railways began as the train operator South Western Railway was taken into public ownership.{{Cite web |first=Peter |last=Henley |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy90x5p2gn3o |title=South Western Railway: First nationalised train is bus service |date=23 May 2025 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC |accessdate=24 May 2025}}

Passenger train operators continue to be renationalised, with services to be managed at some future time by Great British Railways, with c2c the next to be taken back into public ownership on 20 July 2025.{{Cite web |date=4 December 2024 |title=Government reveals first three operators to be renationalised after law change |url=https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2024/12/04-government-reveals-first-three-renationalised.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Railnews}}

Following the general election, chairs and member of select committees were due to be appointed.{{cite web |last=Kelly |first=Richard |date=3 July 2024 |title=House of Commons Library, 2024. "What Happens in the Commons after the general election?" |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/what-happens-in-the-commons-after-the-general-election/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705112915/https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/what-happens-in-the-commons-after-the-general-election/ |archive-date=5 July 2024 |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=House of Commons Library}} The House of Commons allocated which parties held each chair in advance of the summer recess on 30 July 2024.{{Cite web |last=Commons |first=House of |date=30 July 2024 |title=Order Paper for Tuesday 30 July 2024 |url=https://commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/88383/Html?subType=Standard#_idTextAnchor007 }} Nominations for Chairs and memberships ran until 9 September, and ballots took place on 11 September.{{Cite web |date=31 July 2024 |title=Far-right thugs hijack Southport vigil |url=https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/far-right-thugs-hijack-southport-vigil/ |access-date=31 July 2024 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}

{{cleanup reorganize|date=March 2025}}

File:Starmer and Carney 2025-03-17-18-44.jpg, March 2025]]

The first foreign meeting that Starmer attended as prime minister was the 2024 NATO summit.{{Cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Eliot |date=9 July 2024 |title=What will Starmer's fellow world leaders make of him at the Nato summit? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-will-starmers-fellow-world-leaders-make-of-him-at-the-nato-summit/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709111101/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-will-starmers-fellow-world-leaders-make-of-him-at-the-nato-summit/ |archive-date=9 July 2024 |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=The Spectator}}{{Cite web |date=9 July 2024 |title=Keir Starmer to take first steps on world stage at Nato summit in Washington |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2024-07-09/starmer-to-take-first-steps-on-world-stage-at-nato-summit-in-washington |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709113332/https://www.itv.com/news/2024-07-09/starmer-to-take-first-steps-on-world-stage-at-nato-summit-in-washington |archive-date=9 July 2024 |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=ITV News}}

On the flight to the summit, he laid out a "cast iron" commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, following a "root and branch" review of the UK's defences.{{Cite web |last=Mason |first=Chris |date=9 July 2024 |title=PM says defence spending commitment 'cast iron' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqd2x5793no |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709223845/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqd2x5793no |archive-date=9 July 2024 |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=BBC News}}{{Cite web |last1=Fisher |first1=Lucy |last2=Foy |first2=Henry |date=9 July 2024 |title=Starmer plans 'road map' for UK to hit higher defence spending goal |url=https://www.ft.com/content/cdaaab5e-eead-47ce-890c-cf66473b7a82 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709224227/https://www.ft.com/content/cdaaab5e-eead-47ce-890c-cf66473b7a82 |archive-date=9 July 2024 |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=Financial Times}} In July 2024 Starmer and Joe Biden discussed their shared commitment to the Special Relationship and mutual support of Ukraine. Biden also congratulated Starmer on "a hell of a victory".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/keir-starmer-joe-biden-phone-call-video-b2575374.html |title=Watch: Keir Starmer takes phone call from Joe Biden after general election win |date=6 July 2024 |language=en |access-date=8 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709111633/https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/keir-starmer-joe-biden-phone-call-video-b2575374.html |archive-date=9 July 2024 |url-status=live |via=www.independent.co.uk}}

At the 2024 NATO summit, Starmer signaled that Ukraine could use Britain's Storm Shadow missile donations to strike military targets inside Russia.{{Cite web |last=Wickham |first=Alex |date=10 July 2024 |title=Starmer Says Ukraine Can Use UK Missiles to Strike Inside Russia |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-10/starmer-says-ukraine-can-use-uk-missiles-to-strike-inside-russia |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710224227/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-10/starmer-says-ukraine-can-use-uk-missiles-to-strike-inside-russia |archive-date=10 July 2024 |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=Bloomberg}} In a meeting with Zelensky, Starmer called for an "irreversible" membership strategy for Ukraine to join NATO.{{Cite web |last=Maddox |first=David |date=10 July 2024 |title=Starmer gets first big diplomatic win with 'irreversible' Ukraine Nato membership plan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-ukraine-irreversible-nato-membership-b2577476.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710200514/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-ukraine-irreversible-nato-membership-b2577476.html |archive-date=10 July 2024 |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=The Independent}} In July 2024, Starmer told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the UK would continue its "vital cooperation to deter malign threats" with Israel.{{cite news |date=8 July 2024 |title=UK's new PM Starmer says 'urgent' need for Gaza ceasefire |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/uks-new-pm-starmer-calls-for-urgent-need-for-gaza-ceasefire |work=Al Jazeera}}

In May 2025, the UK and India agreed a trade deal to make it cheaper and easier to buy and sell goods and services to one another. Starmer described this as the UK's best trade deal since Brexit.{{Cite web |date=2025-05-06 |title=Four things you need to know about UK-India trade deal |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99p2mlyep5o.amp |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=BBC News |language=en-gb}}File:Zelenskyy_in_Downing_Street_2025-03-01-18-29.jpg, February 2025]] Later in May, the UK and the EU agreed on a deal in London to 'reset' relations between them following Brexit. The deal included provisions on defence, fishing rights and youth mobility.{{Cite news |date=19 May 2025 |title=Who are the winners and losers from the UK-EU agreement? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz63d82z785o.amp |work=BBC News |language=en-gb}}

Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Starmer tweeted "Political violence in any form has no place in our societies" and offered Donald Trump and his family his best wishes.{{Cite web |last=Starmer |first=Keir |date=14 July 2024 |title=I am appalled by the shocking scenes at President Trump's rally and we send him and his family our best wishes. Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack. |url=https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1812279718621716489 |website=Twitter}} He later deflected allegations from the Trump campaign that Labour had undertaken unlawful electoral interference by providing support to Kamala Harris' campaign, and had a meeting with Trump during the 79th session of the UN general assembly in New York.

In November 2024, Starmer offered his congratulations to Trump on a phone call after he won the 2024 United States presidential election, along with other world leaders, saying "I look forward to working with you in the years ahead. I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come."{{Cite web |date=6 November 2024 |title=Keir Starmer congratulates Donald Trump in first call after US election |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0m9d2dng1o |access-date=27 November 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Starmer also congratulated Trump on his victory in his first Prime Minister's Questions since the election result.{{Cite web |date=6 November 2024 |title=What has Keir Starmer said about Donald Trump over the years? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/us-election-trump-starmer-labour-republican-2024-b2642284.html |access-date=27 November 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

Following Trump's second inauguration, Starmer met Trump at the White House in February 2025, and upon arrival presented to Trump an invitation letter from King Charles III for an 'unprecedented' second state visit for a US president.{{Cite web |last=Whannel |first=Kate |date=27 February 2025 |title=King invites Trump for 'unprecedented' second state visit |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yxxpxe5qko |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250227194321/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yxxpxe5qko |archive-date=27 February 2025 |access-date=27 February 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-UK}} Trump endorsed the Starmer government's proposed deal to relinquish the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius by ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, in exchange for a 99-year lease of Diego Garcia – including the UK-US military base.{{Cite web |last=Landler |first=Mark |date=28 February 2025 |title=With a Letter From King Charles, Starmer Was Welcomed Into Trump's Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/world/europe/trump-starmer-king-charles.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250228170029/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/world/europe/trump-starmer-king-charles.html |archive-date=28 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025 |website=The New York Times |language=en-US |location=London}} Starmer and Trump agreed to work towards a trade deal.{{Cite web |last=Colchester |first=Max |date=28 February 2025 |title=To Woo Trump, Britain Turns to Its Ultimate Celebrity: King Charles |url=https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/to-woo-trump-britain-turns-to-its-ultimate-celebrity-king-charles-06220e51 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250228172530/https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/to-woo-trump-britain-turns-to-its-ultimate-celebrity-king-charles-06220e51 |archive-date=28 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025 |website=The Wall Street Journal |language=en-US}} Trump avoided Starmer's primary request of committing to a US backstop in any security guarantees for Ukraine.{{Cite news |last=Birnbaum |first=Michael |date=28 February 2025 |title=British prime minister uses flattery, royal invitation to push Trump on Ukraine |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/27/trump-starmer-ukraine-king-charles/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250228173143/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/27/trump-starmer-ukraine-king-charles/ |archive-date=28 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US}} Starmer toured the Washington offices of Palantir Technologies, he spoke to Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp and was shown some of the company's defence-related AI technology.{{Cite web |last1=Wickham |first1=Alex |last2=White |first2=Lucy |date=28 February 2025 |title=Britain Seeks Tech and AI Deal With US Rather Than Full FTA |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/britain-seeks-tech-and-ai-deal-with-us-rather-than-full-fta |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250301203143/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/britain-seeks-tech-and-ai-deal-with-us-rather-than-full-fta |archive-date=1 March 2025 |access-date=1 March 2025 |website=Bloomberg |language=en-US}}

Starmer's office confirmed that the United Kingdom provided support for United States strikes in Yemen in March 2025 through "routine allied air-to-air refuelling".{{cite news |title=No 10 rows back on Lammy's claim Israel broke international law in Gaza |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/david-lammy-israel-hamas-pat-mcfadden-rupa-huq-b2717203.html |work=The Independent |date=18 March 2025}}

{{further|Tariffs in the second Trump administration}}

File:Starmer-Trump bilateral 2025-02-27-17-54.jpg at the White House, February 2025]]

In April 2025, Trump announced a number of tariffs on foreign imports into the United States. English products were affected by a 10 per cent tariff. Starmer said that he planned on negotiating for a trade deal with the United States and that he did not want his country to be in a trade war.{{cite web |date=3 April 2025 |title=Trump tariffs: List of global responses and countermeasures |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/trump-tariffs-draw-global-promises-counter-measures-2025-04-03/ |access-date=6 April 2025 |work=Reuters}} The United Kingdom chose not to retaliate against President Trump's metal tariffs.{{cite news |last1=Lawder |first1=David |last2=Shalal |first2=Andrea |last3=Renshaw |first3=Jarrett |date=March 12, 2025 |title=Trump's Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Take Effect as U.S.-Canada Trade War Intensifies |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/trumps-steel-aluminum-tariffs-take-effect-us-canada-trade-war-intensifies-2025-03-12/ |access-date=March 12, 2025 |work=Reuters |publisher=Reuters}}

Reeves stated that discussions were "ongoing" regarding a potential reduction of the UK's Digital Services Tax (DST) to prevent further trade disputes with the United States. Introduced in 2020, the UK's DST imposes a 2% levy on large digital companies, generating approximately £800 million annually. The proposal to reduce the tax faced criticism from the Liberal Democrats, who condemned it as a "tax handout to Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and other US tech barons" and instead advocated for an increase to 6%.{{Cite web |date=March 23, 2025 |title=UK considers big tech tax changes to appease Donald Trump |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8j0dgym8w1o |access-date=March 25, 2025 |publisher=BBC}}

On April 3, 2025, the UK government published a 417-page list, which asked British businesses to point to products where tariffs would hurt British companies the least.{{cite news |date=April 3, 2025 |title=UK teases retaliatory tariffs on US goods |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-tariffs-uk-retaliatory-goods-import-export-liberation-day-trade/ |work=Politico}}

On April 15, 2025, Vice President JD Vance stated that there was a "'Good chance" of a US-UK trade deal to be signed.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-15 |title='Good chance' of US trade deal with UK, says Vice-President Vance |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly1j4yg872o |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}

In May 2025, Starmer agreed on a 'tariff deal' with the US which reduced the import tax on cars, from 25% to 10% and the 25% tariff on steel and aluminium were scrapped. Under this deal, the 20% tariff on US beef exports to the UK was also scrapped and the quota was raised by 12,000 metric tonnes.{{Cite news |date=8 May 2025 |title=What is in the UK-US tariff deal? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c15ng4g5g0eo.amp |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

File:Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends the G20 Summit in Brazil (54147616322).jpg at the G20 summit in Brazil, 18 November 2024]]

In July 2024 Starmer pledged to take a tougher approach to China on human rights and security issues, including China's support for Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{cite news |date=10 July 2024 |title=Starmer vows to be 'robust' with China |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/10/starmer-vows-to-be-robust-with-china/ |work=The Telegraph}} In November 2024, Starmer met Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro and told him he wanted to build a 'consistent, durable, respectful' relationship with China.{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Ian |date=18 November 2024 |title=Keir Starmer's desperate cosying up to Beijing |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/keir-starmers-desperate-cosying-up-to-beijing/ |work=The Spectator}}

File:Securing Our Future London Summit participants on 2 March 2025.jpg]]

On 16 February 2025 Starmer said he is ready to deploy British peacekeeping units in Ukraine if there is a peace deal to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{cite news |title=UK PM Starmer offers to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/uk-pm-starmer-offers-send-peacekeeping-troops-ukraine-2025-02-16/ |work=Reuters |date=17 February 2025}} In addition, Starmer hosted the 2025 London Summit on Ukraine with 18 world leaders, and announced the creation of a Coalition of the willing to support peace in Ukraine and to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The stated aim of the initiative is to facilitate the peace negotiation attempts launched and mediated by the United States between Ukraine and Russia in February 2025, by helping to build up strong enough security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure that a potential reached ceasefire or peace deal would be lasting.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-20 |title=Military chiefs gather in UK to discuss Ukraine peacekeeping force |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250320-military-chiefs-gather-in-uk-to-discuss-ukraine-protections |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=France24}} Besides serving the role as building up a potential peacekeeping force, the coalition have also expressed readiness to increase military support for Ukraine and strengthen economic sanctions against Russia, in the event that the ongoing negotiations for a "comprehensive ceasefire" or "peace deal" would fail. As of 20 March 2025, the exact shape and function of the coalition was described as still being subject to ongoing planning, but moved into an "operational phase".{{Cite web |date=2025-03-20 |title=Who's in, who's out? The 'coalition of the willing' that could secure peace in Ukraine |url=https://news.sky.com/story/what-is-a-coalition-of-the-willing-and-which-countries-could-send-peacekeeping-troops-to-ukraine-13320663 |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=Sky News}}{{Cite web |date=2025-03-20 |title=Military leaders to meet on UK-France 'coalition of the willing' plan for Ukraine |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/military-leaders-meet-uk-france-coalition-willing-plan-ukraine |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=Fox News}}

File:Prime_Minister_Keir_Starmer_calls_Benjamin_Netanyahu_(54036200260).jpg, October 2024]]

Under Starmer's premiership licences of some British arms sales to Israel were supposedly suspended in September 2024 because of a "clear risk" the weapons could be used in breach of international law. Lammy announced the UK Government's suspension of 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, affecting equipment such as parts for fighter jets, helicopters and drones however more recent figures have actually shown a significant increase in weapons and munitions sent which has brought into question the Labour party's direct involvment in mass killings in Gaza.{{Cite web |date=2 September 2024 |title=UK suspends some arms exports to Israel |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd05pk95j2xo#:~:text=The%20UK%20has%20suspended%20some%20arms%20sales%20to,as%20parts%20for%20fighter%20jets,%20helicopters%20and%20drones. |access-date=22 September 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{cite web | url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/25165991.labour-see-massive-increase-uk-military-equipment-sent-israel/ | title='Massive increase' in UK military equipment sent to Israel under Labour, data shows }}{{cite web | url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/major-jump-approved-uk-arms-exports-israel-weeks-after-gaza-ban | title=Approved UK arms exports to Israel skyrocketed under Labour, data shows }}{{cite web | url=https://dpglaw.co.uk/uk-arms-exports-to-israel-under-legal-scrutiny-as-high-court-hearing-begins/ | title=UK Arms Exports to Israel Under Legal Scrutiny as High Court Hearing Begins }} In November 2024, Starmer refused to call Israel's actions in Gaza "genocide".{{cite news |date=13 November 2024 |title=Starmer resists pressure to describe war in Gaza as 'genocide' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/keir-starmer-gaza-prime-minister-commons-israeli-b2646404.html |work=The Independent}} On 18 March 2025 Foreign Secretary David Lammy admitted that Israel had violated international law by blocking aid to the Gaza Strip. However, Starmer's government publicly rejected Lammy's statement to the House of Commons, which assessed that Israel had broken international law by blocking Gaza. Starmer's office stated that it was up to the Foreign Office to decide whether Lammy should apologise for his criticism of Israel.{{cite news |title=Downing Street rejects Lammy's claim Israel broke international law in Gaza |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/18/downing-street-rejects-lammy-claim-israel-broke-international-law-gaza |work=The Guardian |date=18 March 2025}}

{{Main|2024 suspension of rebel Labour MPs}}

File:Official portrait of Stephen Flynn MP crop 2, 2024.jpg, who supported an amendment by the SNP to scrap the two child benefit cap, leading to Labour withdrawing the whip from 7 of its MPs who had supported it]]

Starmer and Reeves have refused to scrap the benefit cap introduced by the Cameron–Clegg coalition, citing financial reasons.{{cite news |last=Byron |first=Daniel |date=17 July 2023 |title=Sir Kid Starver: Starmer's got a new nickname thanks to Twitter users |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/23661741.sir-kid-starver-starmers-got-new-nickname-thanks-twitter-users/ |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=The National |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Patrick |first=Holly |date=18 July 2023 |title=Keir Starmer nicknamed 'Sir Kid Starver' over Labour plans to keep two-child benefit cap |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/labour-keir-starmer-benefits-nickname-b2377242.html |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=The Independent |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=21 July 2024 |title=Rachel Reeves doubles down on refusal to scrap two-child benefit cap |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-reeves-two-child-benefit-cap-b2583236.html |access-date=4 August 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}} The cap was introduced in 2013 as part of the coalition government's wide-reaching welfare reform agenda which included the introduction of Universal Credit and reforms of housing benefit and disability benefits.{{cite news |date=6 February 2014 |title='Thousands' hit by government benefit cap now in work |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26065080 |work=BBC News}} Starmer's government cited wide public support for the measure, despite it being highly controversial.{{cite report |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06294/ |title=The Benefit Cap |last1=Kennedy |first1=Steven |last2=Wilson |first2=Wendy |last3=Apostolova |first3=Vyara |last4=Keen |first4=Richard |date=21 November 2016 |publisher=House of Commons Library |pages=3, 8–9, 14 |accessdate=7 August 2020}}{{failed verification|date=October 2024}} The benefit cap primarily affects families with children, high rents, or both.{{cite web |last1=Emmerson |first1=Carl |last2=Joyce |first2=Robert |date=20 April 2023 |title=What impact did lowering the benefit cap have? |url=https://ifs.org.uk/articles/what-impact-did-lowering-benefit-cap-have |website=The Institute for Fiscal Studies}}{{relevance inline|date=October 2024}} By 2024, the year Starmer and Reeves entered government, two-thirds of the families affected by the cap were single-parent families, half of which had a child under five.{{cite news |last=Butler |first=Patrick |date=31 July 2024 |title=Benefit cap traps families in crowded, rat-infested homes, report finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/31/benefit-cap-traps-families-in-crowded-rat-infested-homes-report-finds |newspaper=The Guardian}}

On 23 July 2024 Labour withdrew the whip from 7 of its MPs who had supported an amendment tabled by the Scottish National Party (SNP)'s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, to scrap it, with Flynn stating that scrapping the cap would immediately raise 300,000 children out of poverty. MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103.{{cite news |date=23 July 2024 |title=Labour suspends seven rebel MPs over two-child benefit cap |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c978m6z3egno |publisher=BBC News}} The seven Labour MPs suspended for six months were John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana, all of whom then sat as independents. Burgon, Byrne, Long-Bailey and Hussain had the Labour whip restored on 5 February 2025, while Sultana, McDonnell and Begum continue to sit as independents. Starmer launched a Child Poverty Taskforce, in which expert officials from across government would work together on how best to support more than four million children living in poverty.

{{Main|Winter Fuel Payment}}

File:Chancellor Gordon Brown official portrait.jpg (then chancellor) introduced the policy.]]

In July 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the Winter Fuel Payment, a welfare payment for elderly people introduced in 1997 by former chancellor and prime minister Gordon Brown intended to cover the additional costs of heating over the winter months, would only be given to those in receipt of Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits. This removed the benefit from around 10 million pensioners.{{cite web |date=29 July 2024 |title=Winter fuel payments scrapped for millions |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx02zdd92zdo |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=BBC News}} The announcement of this policy to remove fuel payments from pensioners took the nation by surprise as it had not been publicised in advance or included in Labour's manifesto for the election. With the announcement being made shortly before the Commons party conference season recess, there was only a limited initial response. However, several Labour MPs returned to Westminster complaining that their constituents were "furious and, in some cases, deeply worried".{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=9 September 2024 |title=Why is Labour's proposed winter fuel payments cut controversial? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/09/explainer-uk-labour-winter-fuel-payments-cut |work=The Guardian}}

On 5 September, Starmer conceded to demands and promised a binding vote in the Commons on whether the changes to the fuel payment would be implemented. The change of heart came after unease amongst Labour MPs, with many of them signing an early day motion challenging the changes, and the opposition Conservative Party submitted a motion to annul the government's change to regulations.{{cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=5 September 2024 |title=MPs to vote on winter fuel allowance cuts as Labour backbench unease grows |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/05/mps-vote-winter-fuel-allowance-cuts-labour-backbench-unease |work=The Guardian}} The Conservative motion was debated on 10 September, and in the vote that followed, 348 MPs backed the government and 228 supported the opposition motion. With a majority of 120 to the government, the policy was implemented. A total of 52 Labour MPs, including seven ministers, did not participate in the vote. Labour MP Jon Trickett voted against the government. BBC News said that around 20 of the Labour MPs who did not participate had publicly expressed opposition to the policy previously.{{cite news |last1=McKiernan |first1=Jennifer |last2=Farley |first2=Harry |date=10 September 2024 |title=Millions of pensioners will lose winter fuel cash after Commons vote |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5r07kw24no |work=BBC News}}

The government was put under pressure to abandon this policy by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as it started its annual conference on 9 September. The TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, said that he was concerned about the removal of the universal payment for all but the poorest pensioners. The general secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham, repeated her call for the decision to be reversed. Fran Heathcote of the PCS union said that the plan was a "misstep" and it needed to be "put right".{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=9 September 2024 |title=Ministers facing pressure from unions over winter fuel payment cut |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/09/winter-fuel-allowance-cut-vote-unions-labour-mps |work=The Guardian}}{{cite news |last1=Conway |first1=Zoe |last2=Rhoden-Paul |first2=André |last3=Khalil |first3=Hafsa |date=8 September 2024 |title=Starmer faces union pressure ahead of winter fuel payment vote |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5rl612n5o |work=BBC News}} At the Labour Party conference, held between 23 and 25 September, Unite and the Communication Workers Union, managed to reserve time for a motion opposing the government's fuel payment policy to be debated and a non-binding vote taken.{{cite news |last1=Pickard |first1=Jim |last2=Fisher |first2=Lucy |date=22 September 2024 |title=Labour conference to vote on Keir Starmer's winter fuel cut |url=https://www.ft.com/content/7ee91cb9-aa7e-4a68-a4dc-d59a95fd771a |work=Financial Times}} The motion was scheduled to be debated on the first day of the conference, but on the day, the same day that Reeves was due to give a speech, the vote was postponed until the last day of the conference – after Starmer had left. The announcement of the move was greeted with loud boos and jeers from the conference attendees.{{cite news |last1=Gibbons |first1=Amy |last2=Riley-Smith |first2=Ben |date=23 September 2023 |title=Boos erupt at Labour conference over delayed winter fuel vote |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/23/boos-erupt-at-labour-conference-delayed-winter-fuel-vote/ |work=The Telegraph}}{{cite news |last=Walker |first=James |date=23 September 2023 |title=Labour conference: Boos erupt after Winter Fuel Payment vote delay |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/24602674.labour-conference-boos-erupt-winter-fuel-payment-vote-delay/ |work=The National}} The Unite union said that by rescheduling their motion to the very end of the conference, the conference organisers had sought to silence them.{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |last2=Adu |first2=Aletha |date=23 September 2024 |title=Labour conference 'graveyard slot' for winter fuel vote angers Unite |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/23/labour-conference-graveyard-slot-for-winter-fuel-vote-angers-unite |work=The Guardian}} The Labour leadership lost the vote, with delegates supporting the motion to scrap the government's policy.{{cite news |last=Gibbons |first=Amy |date=25 September 2024 |title=Starmer humiliated by Labour winter fuel revolt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/25/starmer-humiliated-by-labour-winter-fuel-revolt/ |work=The Telegraph}}

The announcement of this policy to remove fuel payments from pensioners took the nation by surprise as it had not been publicised in advance or included in Labour's manifesto for the election. With the announcement being made shortly before the Commons party conference season recess, there was only a limited initial response. However, several Labour MPs returned to Westminster complaining that their constituents were "furious and, in some cases, deeply worried".{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=9 September 2024 |title=Why is Labour's proposed winter fuel payments cut controversial? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/09/explainer-uk-labour-winter-fuel-payments-cut |work=The Guardian}} In August, consumer journalist and founder of MoneySavingExpert, Martin Lewis, suggested that the government should rethink their plans to restrict who would get the payment saying they had gone too far by limiting it to only the "absolute poorest pensioners on the very lowest income".{{cite news |last=Makortoff |first=Kalyeena |date=23 August 2024 |title=Martin Lewis calls for rethink of plan to limit winter fuel payments |url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/aug/23/martin-lewis-calls-for-rethink-over-plans-to-limit-winter-fuel-payments |work=The Guardian}} Labour MP Rachael Maskell said, "Being cold at home can lead to stroke, heart attack, hypothermia, pneumonia and other such illnesses" and recommended that the government should read the work of Professor Sir Michael Marmot and Sir Chris Whitty with respect to this "so that we can take a public health approach to people being warm at home, to mitigate the cost that could come without putting right mitigation around the winter fuel payments".{{cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=5 September 2024 |title=MPs to vote on winter fuel allowance cuts as Labour backbench unease grows |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/05/mps-vote-winter-fuel-allowance-cuts-labour-backbench-unease |work=The Guardian}} On 9 September it was reported that Labour MPs, including frontbenchers, were worried that Reeves's "brutal" plan for the fuel allowance would result in more older people ending up in hospital over the winter.{{cite news |last=Gregory |first=Andy |date=9 September 2024 |title=Rachel Reeves's winter fuel payment cut will put pensioners in hospital, Labour MPs fear |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/winter-fuel-payment-labour-pensioners-b2608766.html |work=Independent}}The UK's leading charity for older people, Age UK, wrote to Reeves with its proposal which it says would prevent around two million pensioners, for whom the payment is badly needed, from having the payment stopped.{{cite news |last=Helm |first=Toby |date=31 August 2024 |title=Rachel Reeves under renewed fire from MPs and charities over cuts to winter fuel allowance |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/31/rachel-reeves-under-renewed-fire-from-mps-and-charities-over-cuts-to-winter-fuel-allowance |work=The Guardian}} At Prime Minister's Questions on 11 September, the former prime minister, leader of the opposition, Rishi Sunak, accused Starmer of covering up the impact assessment for the policy, asking him if the estimate for the number of deaths was higher or lower than the 3,850 Labour had previously forecast would result from this policy. Starmer did not answer that question directly.{{cite news |last=Hymas |first=Charles |date=11 September 2024 |title=Starmer 'covering up' estimate of pensioner deaths after winter fuel payments cut |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/11/starmer-accused-estimate-pensioner-deaths-winter-fuel-cuts/ |work=The Telegraph}}

{{main|2024 Labour Party freebies controversy}}

File:Waheed Alli 2010.jpg pictured in 2010]]

On 24 August 2024 The Times reported that, shortly after Starmer became the prime minister, Waheed Alli, Baron Alli, Starmer's biggest personal donor, had been given a security pass. The pass gave Alli unrestricted access to Downing Street, and he then hosted a party there for other Labour Party donors. This gave rise to suspicions of "cash for access" and claims of "cronyism".{{Cite news |last1=Pogrund |first1=Gabriel |last2=Maguire |first2=Patrick |date=25 August 2024 |title=No 10 pass for Labour donor who gave £500,000 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/waheed-alli-labour-donor-no-10-hkxx5h93l |work=The Times}}{{Cite news |last=Pogrund |first=Gabriel |date=29 September 2024 |title=How we revealed the Downing Street donor scandal rocking Labour |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/how-we-revealed-the-downing-street-donor-scandal-rocking-labour-zdv5k5xwr |work=The Times}} On 15 September 2024 reports emerged in the British media that Starmer had initially failed to declare £5,000 of gifts used to purchase clothes for his wife, Victoria Starmer.{{cite web |author-last=Gibbons |author-first=Amy |date=16 September 2024 |title=Starmer defiant over taking gifts from Lord Alli |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/16/keir-victoria-starmer-clothes-row-lord-alli/?utmsource=email |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} The gifts had been given by Alli, who had also given Starmer a number of clothing-related gifts, including £2,435 worth of eyeglasses, and had given Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner gifts worth £3,550 of clothes in June 2024.{{cite web |author-last=Crerar |author-first=Pippa |date=20 September 2024 |title=Keir Starmer and top Labour colleagues to stop taking clothes gifts from donors |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/20/keir-starmer-labour-stop-taking-clothes-gifts-from-donors |access-date=21 September 2024 |work=The Guardian}} It was subsequently reported that Starmer had accepted over £107,145 worth of gifts, benefits, and hospitality since the 2019 general election, including tickets to Arsenal F.C. matches and Taylor Swift concerts, two-and-a-half times more than any other MP.{{cite web |title=Sir Keir Starmer declares gifts and freebies totalling more than £100,000 – the highest of any MP |url=https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-declares-gifts-and-freebies-totalling-more-than-163100000-the-highest-of-any-mp-13217287 |access-date=18 September 2024 |website=Sky News}}{{cite web |author-last= |author-first= |date=18 September 2024 |title=UK PM Starmer accepted more gifts than any other member of parliament, Sky News reports |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-pm-starmer-accepted-more-gifts-than-any-other-member-parliament-sky-news-2024-09-18/ |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=Reuters}} It was also reported that Health Secretary Wes Streeting had been gifted four Taylor Swift concert tickets, worth a total of £1,160, by The Football Association,{{cite web |author-last=Schofield |author-first=Kevin |date=18 September 2024 |title='I've Been Outed As A Swiftie': Wes Streeting Laughs Off Row Over Labour Freebies |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ive-been-outed-as-a-swiftie-wes-streeting-laughs-off-row-over-labour-freebies_uk_66eac750e4b0beccbbaf8071 |access-date=21 September 2024 |work=HuffPost}} and that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves had accepted £7,500 worth of clothes in 2024 from Juliet Rosenfeld, which were registered as donations "to support the shadow chancellor's office".{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Anna |last2=Pickard |first2=Jim |date=20 September 2024 |title=Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves declared clothing donations as office support |url=https://www.ft.com/content/2a218255-c08e-4091-8c7a-f51dd46795be |access-date=25 September 2024 |website=Financial Times}} On 17 September 10 Downing Street announced that Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg would not investigate the gifts.{{cite web |author-last=Francis |author-first=Sam |date=17 September 2024 |title=No inquiry into gifts for Starmer's wife, say No10 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgeyy0dlp24o |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=BBC News}}

On 20 September 2024, as the Labour Party Conference was set to begin, Starmer as well as Reeves and Rayner announced they would no longer accept clothes from donors.{{cite web |author-last=Devlin |author-first=Kate |date=20 September 2024 |title=Keir Starmer will no longer accept donations for clothes after freebies row |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-free-clothes-donations-freebies-b2616366.html |access-date=21 September 2024 |work=The Independent}} That weekend, The Mail on Sunday reported that Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson had received a £14,000 gift from Alli for her 40th birthday party. Phillipson defended the gift, saying that it had been used "to get people together in a professional context" ahead of her birthday party and that it had been properly declared in the register of interests.{{cite web |author-last=Scott |author-first=Jennifer |date=22 September 2024 |title=Education secretary defends £14k donation as 'declared properly and thoroughly' |url=https://news.sky.com/story/education-secretary-defends-14k-donation-as-declared-properly-and-thoroughly-13219807 |access-date=24 September 2024 |work=Sky News}} Phillipson also admitted to accepting Taylor Swift concert tickets, saying that it was "hard to say no".{{cite web |date=22 September 2024 |title=Education Secretary defends accepting Taylor Swift tickets |url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/education-secretary-defends-accepting-taylor-124757355.html |access-date=25 September 2024 |website=Yahoo News}} When Alli was asked about the controversy at the Conference by a Sky News reporter, he stated that he didn't want to be asked about it, saying that the questions were "not very nice."{{cite web |author-last=Rayner |author-first=Gordon |date=23 September 2024 |title=Labour fixer who worked with Lord Alli helped select dozens of MPs |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/23/lord-alli-fixer-labour-candidates-mp/ |access-date=24 September 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} That same weekend, Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell stated that the government had "no plans" to change the rules on MP accepting gifts. Starmer subsequently admitted to accepting accommodation worth £20,000 from Alli between May and July 2024, stating that the offer was for somewhere his son could study peacefully for his GCSEs.{{cite web |date=25 September 2024 |title=Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 of accommodation to help his son study for GCSEs |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-donor-alli-labour-conference-b2618667.html |access-date=25 September 2024 |website=The Independent}} The exams that year finished in mid-June. Starmer's use of accommodation provided by Alli sparked further controversy when it was reported that a video calling for Brits to stay at home that Starmer had filmed in December 2021, during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, had been filmed in a flat belonging to Alli.{{cite web |author-last=Cook |author-first=Millie |date=26 September 2024 |title=Starmer's Covid broadcast urging work from home recorded in donor's £18m penthouse |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-covid-broadcast-donations-b2619234.html |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=The Independent}} On 27 September The Guardian reported that Starmer had received an additional £16,000 worth of clothes as a gift from Alli in late 2023 and early 2024. Although those gifts had been declared in time, they had been declared as money "for the private office" of Starmer, and not as clothing.{{cite web |author-last=Mason |author-first=Rowena |date=27 September 2024 |title=Peer gave Keir Starmer more clothes worth £16,000, declared as money for private office |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/27/peer-gave-keir-starmer-more-clothes-worth-16000-declared-as-money-for-private-office |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=The Guardian}}

File:Taylor Swift Eras 08092023-581 (1).jpg would be provided for Taylor Swift for the remainder of The Eras Tour shows in London.]]

In October 2024 it was reported that the Metropolitan Police's Special Escort Group—a top-level security usually provided for members of the British royal family and heads of state—would be provided for Swift and crew for the remainder of The Eras Tour shows in London. A political scandal soon developed in the United Kingdom as the politicians of opposition Conservative Party accused the ruling Labour Party of receiving free tickets to the Eras Tour in exchange of the security grant. It was alleged that Labour politicians, ranging from Starmer to London mayor Sadiq Khan, had received around £20,000 in free tickets, after Swift's demand for the security was initially denied, with the politicians subsequently pressuring the police to give in.{{Cite news |last=Buchanan |first=Abigail |date=11 October 2024 |title=How Labour's love affair with Taylor Swift backfired |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/11/labour-party-taylor-swift-cooper-starmer-security-seg-met/ |access-date=15 October 2024 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issn=0307-1235}} The prime minister's office denied that the free tickets were connected to security demands, however admitted that Starmer meeting Swift at the concert could have created a perception of a conflict of interest.{{Cite web |title=Politics latest: Minister welcomes inflation drop – as Hunt tweets sarcastic response |url=https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-labour-conference-12593360 |access-date=16 October 2024 |publisher=Sky News}} The former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson said Swift has made the United Kingdom "look like a banana republic"; Rebecca Reid of i said "the Eras tour has been dragged into a tangential political row" and criticised Johnson, writing that he did not care about women's safety; Reid opined that Swift deserves the police convoy in light of the Vienna threat and the Southport stabbing.{{Cite news |last=Reid |first=Rebecca |date=14 October 2024 |title=What Boris Johnson doesn't understand about Taylor Swift |url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/taylor-swift-became-a-pawn-in-uk-politics-3321931?srsltid=AfmBOoqRMAtlDeaYJvO1J7YFiVbLcxrcCVVMuO7uN1uZsqosJSb9AiUr |access-date=17 October 2024 |newspaper=i}}

Although no Parliamentary rules were broken nor was there clear evidence that any improper favour had been sought by those who offered Starmer gifts, the controversy still posed a political problem for Labour, as it left them facing accusations of hypocrisy and that it risked conflicting with the government's message of budget austerity.{{cite web |author-last=Eaton |author-first=George |date=18 September 2024 |title=Why Keir Starmer's freebies have become a political problem |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2024/09/why-keir-starmers-freebies-have-become-a-political-problem |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The New Statesman}}{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Oliver |date=3 October 2024 |title=How freebies furore went from bad to worse for Keir Starmer |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-labour-freebies-timeline-mgjw7kcnz |website=The Times}}{{cite web |author-last=Boffey |author-first=Daniel |date=18 September 2024 |title=How UK leaders' spouses have negotiated clothing in the media age |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/18/how-uk-leaders-spouses-have-negotiated-clothing-in-the-media-age |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Guardian}} Starmer stated that there was a "massive difference between declarations and corruption," saying that "all MPs get gifts" and that as Prime Minister, he "can't go into the stands because of security reasons. Therefore, if I don't accept a gift of hospitality, I can't go to a game."{{cite web |author-last=Adu |author-first=Aletha |date=17 September 2024 |title=Keir Starmer suggests he will continue accepting donors' gifts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/16/keir-starmer-suggests-he-will-continue-accepting-donors-gifts |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Guardian}} Members of Starmer's cabinet defended his actions. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said that Starmer "will, and does, conduct himself with integrity" and that the controversy was "because of taking advice and trying to make sure you abide by the rules."{{cite web |author-last=Crerar |author-first=Pippa |date=17 September 204 |title='Keir has integrity': Labour's Pat McFadden says Starmer will bring reasons to be cheerful |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/17/keir-has-integrity-labours-pat-mcfadden-says-starmer-will-bring-reasons-to-be-cheerful |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Guardian}} Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated that successive prime ministers "do rely on political donations so they can look their best both in the hope of representing the country, if you're in the opposition, or as prime minister."{{cite web |author-last=Catt |author-first=Helen |date=15 September 2024 |title=Starmer may have broken rules over donor's gifts to wife |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8djply3z18o |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=BBC News}} Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated that he was "proud" of people who contributed "their money to our politics," describing it as "a noble pursuit just like giving to charity."{{cite web |author-last=Robertson |author-first=Adam |date=24 September 204 |title=Wes Streeting panned for 'ridiculous' comments on 'freebies row' |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/24604995.wes-streeting-panned-ridiculous-comments-freebies-row/ |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=The National Scotland}} Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that he had "no problem" with the acceptance of gifts that can be of "a more personal nature" opining that hard-working politicians were entitled to "a bit of relaxation".{{Cite news |last=Adu |first=Aletha |date=19 September 2024 |title=Starmer's free tickets for Arsenal and Taylor Swift part of job, says minister |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/19/starmers-free-tickets-for-arsenal-and-taylor-swift-part-of-job-says-minister-jonathan-reynolds |archive-url= |work=The Guardian}}

Labour backbencher Rosie Duffield resigned the Labour whip over the row, accusing her government of pursuing "cruel and unnecessary" policies and accused Starmer of "hypocrisy" for accepting gifts. In her resignation letter she accused Starmer and senior Labour MPs of "sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice" which are "off the scale". She added "I'm so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party".{{Cite news |date=29 September 2024 |title=Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield quits Labour – criticising Sir Keir Starmer in resignation letter |url=https://news.sky.com/story/rosie-duffield-resigns-as-labour-mp-13224014 |work=Sky News}} Another Labour backbencher, and Mother of the House, former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said that under the leadership of Starmer, the Labour Party is now "in the pocket of millionaires".{{Cite news |last=Penna |first=Dominic |date=21 September 2024 |title=Starmer 'in the pocket of millionaires', says Diane Abbott |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/21/labour-keir-starmer-pocket-of-millionaires-diane-abbot/ |work=The Telegraph}} Former Labour Party Deputy Leader Baroness Harman criticised Starmer's response to the controversy, saying that Starmer was "not a sort of money focused, greedy type person," but that "doubling down and trying to justify it is making things worse."{{cite web |author-last=Brown |author-first=Faye |date=19 September 2024 |title=Keir Starmer trying to justify free gifts is making things worse, says Baroness Harriet Harman |url=https://news.sky.com/story/keir-starmer-trying-to-justify-free-gifts-is-making-things-worse-says-baroness-harriet-harman-13217827 |access-date=20 September 2024 |work=Sky News}} Former Labour Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell criticised Starmer for accepting the gifts while "talking about tough decisions and painful policies coming and possibly a new wave of austerity," adding that Labour Party founder Keir Hardie attended Parliament in "an ordinary working man's suit instead of the usual formal dress and he did so because he wanted to make the point that we represent working people."{{cite web |author-last=Chaplain |author-first=Chloe |date=20 September 2024 |title='Unseemly' to take gifts while cutting benefits, rebel MP warns Starmer |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/unseemly-take-gifts-cutting-benefits-john-mcdonnell-warns-3285754 |access-date=20 September 2024 |work=i}} The Guardian published an editorial warning that the Labour government did not have the benefit of a political honeymoon and that it was "hard to believe that a leader who laid such stress on the need to rebuild trust in politics should behave so naively."{{cite web |author-last= |author-first= |date=19 September 2024 |title=The Guardian view on 10 Downing Street: Labour risks losing the plot |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-10-downing-street-labour-risks-losing-the-plot |access-date=20 September 2024 |work=The Guardian}}

{{Main|2024–2025 United Kingdom farmers' protests}}

File:Farmers' Protests in London, Wed 20th November 2024.jpg

In response to changes to inheritance tax law for family farms announced in the October budget, mass protests organised by farmer organisations, against new inheritance tax laws on agricultural assets, have taken place around the United Kingdom since November 2024. The new laws were proposed in the October 2024 budget, and have led to thousands of British farmers protesting, including in Parliament Square and addressing MPs directly in parliament.{{Cite news |last=Geiger |first=Chas |date=11 December 2024 |title=Consult us on inheritance tax, farmers urge PM |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vky90xm80o |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |date=11 December 2024 |title=Farmers protest in Westminster as anger over inheritance tax changes continues |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2024-12-11/farmers-to-protest-as-anger-grows-over-inheritance-tax-changes |work=ITV News}}

The protests were a response to proposed changes to inheritance tax on agricultural assets, which media outlets dubbed as a "tractor tax". Previously, the intergenerational transfer of farms had been exempt from taxation as a result of 1992 tax break by the Conservative Major ministry intended to protect food security.{{Cite news |title=British farmers protest against 'tractor tax' on inheritance |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/19/british-farmers-protest-against-tractor-tax-on-inheritance |access-date=20 November 2024 |work=AlJazeera |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Horton |first=Helena |date=19 November 2024 |title=What are the key arguments in the farm inheritance tax debate? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/19/what-are-inheritance-tax-changes-affecting-uk-farmers |access-date=20 November 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB}} In November 2024, the newly elected Labour Starmer ministry announced plans to remove the exemption from inheritance tax for farms valued over at least £1,000,000 in order to generate revenue for public services. Set to take effect in April 2026, the new policy would see a 20% inheritance tax on farm valued over that threshold, half the standard rate of inheritance tax, and could be paid interest-free across ten years.

Opposition to the change from farmers stemmed from their claim that farmers, while asset rich, are cash poor, which they said created a situation where heirs would have to sell farm land to meet tax obligations. Supporters of the change claimed it would mitigate and prevent wealthy individuals from buying farmland to avoid inheritance tax.{{Cite news |date=19 November 2024 |title=Thousands of UK farmers descend on Parliament to protest a tax they say will ruin family farms |url=https://apnews.com/article/uk-farmers-tax-protest-dc3fd3640acb1628cd85d43b8413fad0 |access-date=20 November 2024 |work=AP News |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=14 November 2024 |title=The super rich are attacking plans to close agriculture tax breaks |url=https://taxjustice.uk/blog/super-rich-attacking-plans-close-agricultural-tax-breaks/ |access-date=13 December 2024 |website=Tax Justice UK |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Singh-Watson |first=Guy |date=8 November 2024 |title=I'm a farmer – and I'm glad to see tax loopholes closing for cynical investor landowners |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/08/farmer-glad-tax-loopholes-investor-landowners-inheritance |access-date=13 December 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Starmer responded to concerns by saying that the actual threshold for inheritance tax liability could reach up to as high as £3,000,000 once various exemptions were applied, including considerations for couples and specific agricultural property relief.{{Cite news |date=19 November 2024 |title=NFU chief hints farmers could take more extreme action after inheritance tax protest |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/farmer-protest-inheritance-tax-next-b2649749.html |access-date=20 November 2024 |work=Independent |language=en}} The secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Steve Reed, defended the tax changes as a measure to counter wealthy investors using agricultural land for tax avoidance, stating it had become "the most effective way for the super rich to avoid paying their inheritance tax." Since 2024, television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author Jeremy Clarkson has been extremely critical of Starmer and the Labour Party.{{cite web |last=Boffey |first=Daniel |date=November 22, 2024 |title=Jeremy Clarkson: presenter, firebrand farmer … politician? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/22/jeremy-clarkson-presenter-firebrand-farmer-politician |access-date= |work=The Guardian}}{{cite web |last=Sigsworth |first=Tim |date=November 23, 2024 |title=Jeremy Clarkson: I would be a terrible political leader |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/22/jeremy-clarkson-i-would-be-a-terrible-political-leader/ |access-date=November 23, 2024 |work=The Telegraph}}{{cite web |last=O'Connor |first=Roisin |date=November 23, 2024 |title=Jeremy Clarkson acknowledges glaring problem in hit show |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/jeremy-clarkson-farm-inheritance-tax-diddly-squat-b2652388.html |access-date=November 23, 2024 |work=The Independent}}{{cite web |last= |first= |date=22 November 2024 |title=Jeremy Clarkson: Starmer's a nightmare for farmers. He doesn't even eat meat |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/environment/article/jeremy-clarkson-starmers-a-nightmare-for-farmers-he-doesnt-even-eat-meat-xz0cz8800 |access-date=November 23, 2024 |work=The Times}} Clarkson attended the England farmers' protests in London where he called tax hikes a "hammer blow to the back of the head" of British agriculture. Clarkson later labelled Starmer "a nightmare for farmers".{{cite web |last=Samuel |first=Chris |date=November 23, 2024 |title=Jeremy Clarkson slams Starmer as he dubs him 'nightmare for farmers' |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1979681/jeremy-clarkson-slams-starmer-nightmare-for-farmers |access-date=November 25, 2024 |work=Daily Express}}

{{Main|2025 United Kingdom local elections|Leadership approval opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election#Keir Starmer}}

File:Starmer at Leonardo HQ 2025-05-02-11-35.jpg, 2 May 2025]]

Starmer won a landslide victory at the 2024 general election and became prime minister, but with the smallest share of the electoral vote of any majority government since record-keeping of the popular vote began in 1830. The combined vote share for Labour and the Conservatives reached a record low, with smaller parties doing well. The election was noted as the most disproportionate in modern British history,{{cite web |last=Gallagher |first=Michael |title=Election Indices |url=https://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/about/people/michael_gallagher/ElSystems/Docts/ElectionIndices.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240729233608/https://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/about/people/michael_gallagher/ElSystems/Docts/ElectionIndices.pdf |archive-date=29 July 2024 |access-date=29 July 2024}} mainly as a result of the first-past-the-post voting system.{{Cite web |last=Surridge |first=Paula |author-link=Paula Surridge |date=5 July 2024 |title=Labour wins big but the UK's electoral system is creaking |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/labour-wins-big-uk-electoral-system-creaking |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite web |last=Curtice |first=John |author-link=John Curtice |date=5 July 2024 |title=Labour's strength in Commons is heavily exaggerated |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/john-curtice-general-election-labour-victory-results-7cpgvbrcs |access-date=6 July 2024 |work=The Times}}{{Cite web |last=Topping |first=Alexandra |date=8 July 2024 |title='Disproportionate' UK election results boost calls to ditch first past the post |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/08/disproportionate-uk-election-results-boost-calls-to-ditch-first-past-the-post |access-date=8 July 2024 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite web |last1=Chu |first1=Ben |date=5 July 2024 |title=Biggest-ever gap between number of votes and MPs hits Reform and Greens |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c886pl6ldy9o |access-date=8 July 2024 |work=BBC News}} Starmer had previously received mixed appoval ratings as opposition leader, with controversy over continued support for Israel in the Gaza war, which began during his tenure as opposition leader, continuing into his premiership. Despite this Starmer began his premiership with high approval ratings, ending his first week as prime minister as popular amongst the public as Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were at the height of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

By the end of 2024, opinion polling for the Labour Party and Starmer's personal approval ratings had dropped significantly following several controversies including those regarding the abolition of Winter Fuel Payments and alleged trading of gifts for political influence, as well as a series of far-right anti-immigration riots fueled by the perception that his government mishandled its response to the 2024 Southport stabbings, and protests by farmers over a proposed new inheritance tax on their farms. These controversies culminated in an online petition in November 2024 calling for an early general election reaching over 2 million signatures within 2 days.{{Cite web |date=2024-11-25 |title=Keir Starmer: I'm not surprised some want general election re-run |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly2r4g98gjo |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Starmer rules out another general election after petition reaches two million signatures |url=https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-rules-out-another-general-election-after-petition-reaches-two-million-signatures-13260436 |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=Sky News |language=en}} Starmer responded to the petition by saying "I'm not surprised, quite frankly, that as we're doing the tough stuff there are plenty of people who say 'well I'm impacted, I don't like it'. But we've got to make the big calls on the NHS and on schools that are really important for the here and now and for the future." In December 2024, it was falsely reported online that Starmer had received the lowest approval ratings of any sitting prime minister in modern history, which was dismissed by polling companies who have recorded less favourable opinions of prime ministers past.{{Cite news |title=Fact check: Sir Keir Starmer's low approval rating is not worst for a sitting PM |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/keir-starmer-prime-minister-ipsos-common-tiktok-b2657496.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241211092807/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/keir-starmer-prime-minister-ipsos-common-tiktok-b2657496.html |archive-date=2024-12-11 |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}}

By March 2025, opinion polling for the Labour Party and Starmer's personal approval ratings had slightly improved, and despite being critical of his government on issues that matter most to them, Starmer was reported to be favoured as prime minister by the public over Badenoch and Farage.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-26 |title=Boost for Keir Starmer as ratings improve – but public think his government are doing a poor job on issues that matter most {{!}} Ipsos |url=https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/boost-keir-starmer-ratings-improve-public-think-his-government-are-doing-poor-job-issues-matter |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.ipsos.com |language=en-gb}}{{Cite web |date=2024-12-30 |title=Despite low approval ratings, public prefers Starmer as PM to Badenoch or Farage {{!}} Ipsos |url=https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/despite-low-approval-ratings-public-prefers-starmer-pm-badenoch-or-farage-0 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.ipsos.com |language=en-gb}} The 2025 local elections in England were the first local elections of Starmer's premiership, and saw Labour suffer historical loses alongside the Conservatives, with major gains achieved by Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.{{Cite news |last=Dearden |first=Lizzie |date=2025-05-02 |title=Reform UK Surges as Conservatives Lose Seats: 4 Local Elections Takeaways |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/world/europe/uk-local-elections-results-reform-labour-conservative.html |access-date=2025-05-02 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=2025-05-02 |title=Sir John Curtice: Reform's sweeping election wins shake Tory and Labour dominance |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqj4k2l20xlo |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2025-05-02 |title=Lib Dems take two councils after winning Conservative votes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/creqr4x18leo |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Starmer responded by saying the message he was taking away from the results was that his party "must deliver that change even more quickly" and argued that evidence of change was beginning to show with NHS waiting lists coming down and more appointments being created. He also defended taking "tough but right decisions" in the first 10 months of his premiership, saying Labour "inherited a broken economy" from the Conservatives: "Maybe other prime ministers would have walked past that, pretended it wasn't there. I took the choice to make sure our economy was stable."{{Cite web |title='I get it': Starmer responds after losing Runcorn by-election to Nigel Farage's Reform UK |url=https://news.sky.com/story/i-get-it-starmer-responds-after-losing-runcorn-by-election-to-nigel-farages-reform-uk-13359748 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Sky News |language=en}}

{{Main|Starmer ministry}}

File:Prime_Minister_Keir_Starmer_hosts_first_Cabinet.jpg meeting, 6 July 2024]]

Starmer formed his government throughout 5–7 July, after his party won 411 seats in the 2024 general election, with the new Cabinet first meeting on 6 July and the new Parliament being called to meet on 9 July.{{Cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Keir Starmer: Labour leader to become UK prime minister |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crge8g9qxj3o |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{cite web |year=2024 |title=House of Commons Library, 2024. "What Happens in the Commons after the general election?" |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/what-happens-in-the-commons-after-the-general-election/ |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=House of Commons Library}}{{cite web |year=2024 |title=Results |url=https://election.news.sky.com/elections/general-election-2024 |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=Sky News}} It has been noted for its female political representation, appointing women to a record half of the Cabinet (including Rachel Reeves as the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer in British history) and three of the five top positions in the British government, including Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.{{cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Who is in Keir Starmer's new cabinet |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0veg88g7jyo |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=BBC News}}{{cite news |last1=Adam |first1=Karla |last2=Taylor |first2=Adam |last3=Timsit |first3=Annabelle |date=5 July 2024 |title=Who is in Keir Starmer's new U.K. government? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/05/starmer-uk-government-ministers/ |access-date=5 July 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Failed verification|date=July 2024|reason=neither cited source mention "Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government"}}

Starmer also appointed three politically independent experts: scientist Patrick Vallance as Minister of State for Science, rehabilitation campaigner James Timpson as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation, and international law expert Richard Hermer as Attorney General for England and Wales.{{Cite news |last=Savage |first=Michael |date=6 July 2024 |title=Starmer installs non-political ministers in 'government of all the talents' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/06/starmer-non-political-ministers-government-of-all-talents-patrick-vallance-james-timpson |access-date=8 July 2024 |work=The Guardian}} The government includes a few ministers from the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, including Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper, David Lammy and Ed Miliband in the Cabinet, and Jacqui Smith and Douglas Alexander as junior ministers.{{Cite news |last=Francis |first=Sam |date=7 July 2024 |title=Starmer appoints two figures from Blair and Brown era as ministers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y4vz6900o |access-date=8 July 2024 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |last=Laver |first=Adam |date=6 July 2024 |title=Yorkshire MPs take centre stage in Keir's cabinet |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crg720gmedxo |access-date=8 July 2024 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |date=7 July 2024 |title=Who is in Keir Starmer's new Labour Cabinet? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/07/keir-starmer-labour-pick-cabinet-angela-rayner-ed-miliband/ |access-date=8 July 2024 |work=The Telegraph}}

{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2025}}

: Changes from Starmer's final Shadow Cabinet to Cabinet.

• Thangam Debbonaire (Shadow Culture Secretary) lost her seat and Lisa Nandy was appointed in her place.
• Nandy's role (Shadow International Development Cabinet Minister) was a full member of Shadow Cabinet despite the department having merged into the Foreign Office under the previous government and not reformed by Starmer. Anneliese Dodds attends Cabinet as Minister of State for Development.
• Dodds served in Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary and party chair, and she is also the junior Minister of State for Women and Equalities, while Bridget Phillipson succeeds her as the senior Minister for Women and Equalities.{{cite web |date=6 July 2024 |title=Anneliese Dodds attends Starmer's first cabinet meeting in Downing Street |url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/24435323.anneliese-dodds-attends-keir-starmers-first-cabinet-meeting |website=Oxford Mail}}{{cite news |last1=Elgot |first1=Jessica |title=Emily Thornberry 'sorry and surprised' not to be given cabinet role by Starmer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/08/emily-thornberry-sorry-and-surprised-not-to-be-given-cabinet-role-by-starmer |newspaper=The Guardian}}
• Ellie Reeves (Deputy National Campaign Coordinator) was a member of Shadow Cabinet in her previous role that has no government counterpart, and was appointed to succeed Dodds' role as party chair and Minister without Portfolio outside Cabinet.
• Jonathan Ashworth (Shadow Paymaster General) lost his seat. Nick Thomas-Symonds (Shadow Minister without Portfolio) was appointed Minister for the Cabinet Office as well as Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations, but will not attend Cabinet.
• Emily Thornberry (Shadow Attorney General) was not appointed to Cabinet nor any junior ministerial role and returned to the backbenches. Richard Hermer was appointed Attorney General from outside parliament and will be given a life peerage to the House of Lords to serve.
• Hermer (Attorney General), Alan Campbell (Commons Chief Whip) and Darren Jones (Chief Secretary to the Treasury) merely attend Cabinet, roles that were full members of the Shadow Cabinet.
• The Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lords Chief Whip) was a member of Shadow Cabinet, but he was not appointed to Cabinet while remaining in the same role.

This is a list of departures from the Starmer ministry since forming a government on 6 July 2024.

{{Main|List of international prime ministerial trips made by Keir Starmer}}

File:Starmer-Trump bilateral 2025-02-27-17-54.jpg at the White House, 27 February 2025]]

Starmer has made 21 international trips to seventeen countries during his premiership. As of 27 March 2025, the numbers of visits per country where Starmer travelled are:

• One: Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.
• Two: Belgium.
• Three: Germany.
• Four: United States.
• Five: France.

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{{S-other|British premierships}}

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{{Keir Starmer}}

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Category:2024 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:2020s in British politics

Category:21st century in the United Kingdom

Category:Premierships of the United Kingdom

Category:Centrism in the United Kingdom

Category:History of the Labour Party (UK)

Premiership

Category:Current governments in Europe