British PM Starmer to set out detailed policy targets in week ahead

LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set more detailed targets in the coming week to achieve the government’s five main goals on areas including growth, healthcare, crime and green energy, as his party approaches five months in power.

Labour

won a sweeping majority

in Britain’s Lower House of Parliament in July, taking power for the first time in 14 years, but has fallen just behind the opposition Conservative Party in some recent opinion polls.

Mr Starmer said he would set out a “plan for change” as the next phase of delivering goals including the fastest sustained growth in the Group of Seven advanced economies, a halving of serious violent crime, lower energy bills and less ill health.

“Mission-led government does not mean picking milestones because they are easy or will happen anyway. It means relentlessly driving real improvements in the lives of working people,” Mr Starmer said in a statement released by his office. Government ministers and officials would be told to focus on these goals rather than individual ministries’ traditional priorities, Mr Starmer’s office added.

Labour has not had an easy start in office. Ministers say the previous government concealed the extent of problems in areas such as prisons and the immigration system, contributing to what finance minister Rachel Reeves said was a £22 billion (S$37.5 billion) black hole in public finances.

But Conservatives say much of the cost overrun reflected Labour’s decisions to increase pay for public-sector workers and standard in-year spending variations.

Ms Reeves

announced £40 billion of tax rises

in her first budget in October – up from around £8 billion in Labour’s pre-election plan – on top of higher borrowing to halt a fall in public investment planned by the previous government.

Businesses have complained that they will bear the brunt of the tax rises and will probably cut investment or jobs and need to raise prices as a result. REUTERS