Here is the full extract from the Times interview where he made that point. Steven Swinford reports:
For all his instinctive caution, Starmer makes a virtue of the Tory attack by appealing to voters to hand the party a “strong mandate”.
“The most important thing is growing the economy and wealth creation,” he says. “I do think that’s been the Achilles’ heel for 13 years now.
“You can talk about public services but if you haven’t got your economy working then you can’t do that. If you haven’t settled the planning, the infrastructure challenges, then you can’t get your economy going.
“It’s the mindset change we’ve talked about. Do we need a strong mandate for that? Yes, we do. Because these changes are difficult and the sense of the whole country wanting those changes is important in terms of the platform on which we stand to take the country forward.”
The bigger the majority, the better? “Better for the country. Because it means we can roll up our sleeves and get on with the change we need.”
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Filters BETA
Keir Starmer has not got give priorities.
On inflation, he says he has met that. It is more than halved.
On economic growth, he says in the first quarter of this year “our economy grew faster than every other major economy including France, Germany, Italy and America”.
Thomspon says, if you take other timeframes, the record is less impressive.
Sunak says the government is complying with debt rules.
Sunak says he has not made as much progress as he wants on waiting lists.
And, on small boats, he says Starmer would abandon the Rwanda plan.
(In fact, Starmer has set out his priorities. He has said he will be guided by five missions, and he has set out six first steps for government.)
Rishi Sunak remaining PM. Do you agree?
Sunak says that is Curtice’s view. He says he is working as hard as he can to win people over.
Rishi Sunak now.
Q: Why have you stopped talking about what a Tory government would do, and started talking about the dangers of Labour?
Sunak claims he is still talking about what he would do. But with a big majority Labour would be “unchecked and unaccountable”.
Q: When Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson won big majorities, was that dangerous for the country?
Sunak ignores the question, and says Labour would put up taxes, and make the UK the “soft touch of Europe” for migration.
Conservatives are trying to depress the Labour vote by warning about the dangers of a Labour “supermajority”, Keir Starmer has said a big Labour majority would be good for Britain.
Here is the full extract from the Times interview where he made that point. Steven Swinford reports:
For all his instinctive caution, Starmer makes a virtue of the Tory attack by appealing to voters to hand the party a “strong mandate”.
“The most important thing is growing the economy and wealth creation,” he says. “I do think that’s been the Achilles’ heel for 13 years now.
“You can talk about public services but if you haven’t got your economy working then you can’t do that. If you haven’t settled the planning, the infrastructure challenges, then you can’t get your economy going.
“It’s the mindset change we’ve talked about. Do we need a strong mandate for that? Yes, we do. Because these changes are difficult and the sense of the whole country wanting those changes is important in terms of the platform on which we stand to take the country forward.”
The bigger the majority, the better? “Better for the country. Because it means we can roll up our sleeves and get on with the change we need.”
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Lenny Kravitz now in my head, this is Helen Sullivan leaving you in the capable hands of Andrew Sparrow.Keir Starmer and nod along”, or those who will stand up to him.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, SNP’s Westminster leader said:
Do they want members of parliament who will sit opposite Keir Starmer, will stand up to him on the biggest issues, who will argue against austerity, argue for better relations with the European Union, argue for investment in our NHS, action on the cost-of-living crisis, for Scotland’s right to choose and recognition of the state of Palestine?
If they believe in that, then vote for the SNP, and that over the course of the next 48 hours I believe will come through to the general public and ensure that right across Scotland we can win the seats where it’s a very close battle between ourselves and the Labour Party.”
Meanwhile the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has just been on BBC Breakfast, where he said he was “massively concerned” voters across Scotland reporting they have not received their postal votes.
He told BBC Breakfast:
I’m massively concerned about that, like almost every candidate across Scotland that I believe to be the case. I’ve had numerous emails from people who have not received their postal ballot, that’s simply not good enough.
You know, we warned the Prime Minister of this when it became apparent that he was going to choose the election date because, of course, for a huge majority of the people of Scotland, it’s now the school holidays, people are away on holiday.
If their postal vote didn’t land in time, then they’re now disenfranchised from this election, they’re not able to vote for who they want to represent them at Westminster, whether that’s the SNP, or otherwise, that’s simply not good enough.
I see some individuals are blaming the Royal Mail but the reality is the system is not fit for purpose, and we need to see huge reform. We also need to see a big reflection on how we’ve managed to get into a situation where a prime minister can at his own whim declare an election, the Tories decided this was the way that they want the elections to operate in the UK.”
The postal affairs minister is “urgently” investigating delays to postal ballots being delivered, Health Minister Maria Caulfield has said.
Postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake has criticised Royal Mail for failing to deliver votes in time for the General Election.
Caulfield told Sky News:
Kevin is taking this very seriously. He’s in direct contact with the Royal Mail.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue in my constituency, but I know a number of colleagues where people haven’t received their postal votes and are worried about that.
Kevin is investigating this urgently. I know there’s extra resources going into this to try and do a sweep of all the sorting offices and make sure they’re out there.
If people have only just received their postal vote, they can take it to their polling station on election day and it will still be counted.”
Source: theguardian.com
