Sir Keir Starmer reveals new ‘milestones’ but bringing down migration fails to make list

Sir Keir Starmer has promised change as he outlined his government’s “milestones” – but bringing migration down failed to make the list.

The prime minister revealed the government’s six milestones he said would be reached by the end of this parliament.

He said they would “drive forward” his party’s missions and allow the public to “hold our feet to the fire”.

Politics latest: Starmer says milestones are ‘really risky’ for Labour

Billed as a “Plan for Change”, which he insisted was not a reset, migration was not on the list of milestones despite Labour previously saying borders and the economy were their two top priorities.

Quizzed on why it was not, Sir Keir told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that migration needs to come down – something he has said before.

Sir Keir said: “It is our duty to do it [bring migration down]. And we will do it.”

He refused to set a target or timeline.

The milestones Sir Keir announced are:

• Raising living standards in every part of the UK – aim to deliver highest sustained growth in the G7

• Rebuilding Britain – build 1.5m homes in England and fast track planning decisions on at least 150 major infrastructure projects

• Ending hospital backlogs – 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 months

• Putting police back on the beat – with 13,000 additional officers and a named police officer for every neighbourhood

• Giving children the best start in life – getting 75% of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school

• Securing home grown energy – putting the UK on track to at least 95% clean power by 2030.

Sir Keir admitted Labour’s target to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029 may be “a little too ambitious” but denied he was going to change it.

He said the government faces an “almighty challenge” to hit these milestones by the end of this parliament as he denied the goals are not ambitious, saying they are “really risky” for Labour.

The PM was also questioned by journalists over the government’s net zero target because the Plan for Change document said the milestone of securing home grown energy would put the UK “on track to have at least 95% clean power by 2030”.

He insisted it was not a revision of Labour’s original target to get to 100% net zero by 2030.

Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband said after the speech the Climate Change Committee’s original definition of “clean power…is 95% low-carbon, zero-carbon energy and that’s the definition we’re using”.

Sir Keir also used his speech to accuse Whitehall of becoming “comfortable with failure” and promised “a profound cultural shift away from a declinist mentality”, as well as honesty about the “trade-offs” required to achieve his aims.

Senior Conservative Alex Burghart said he thought the speech was “probably the first reset of many” and accused Labour of having “clearly lost their way”.

“It is very difficult to believe anything that this government says,” he said.

“And this is a government that broke its promise to pensioners, broke its promises to businesses, to working people, to farmers. You know, the list goes on.

“So, it’s all very well them coming up with a bunch of pledges today but they’ve got a track record of not doing what they say they are going to do. So why should we listen to them now?”