UK leader Starmer vows to take on 'alliance of naysayers' as he outlines plan for change

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Thursday to take on the “alliance of naysayers” and the bureaucratic “nonsense” that have hampered construction projects in the U.K., as he outlined a series of new pledges that he hopes will change the narrative on his five-month-old government following a slide in its approval ratings.

In a speech at Pinewood Film Studios west of London, Starmer said his “Plan for Change” represented the next phase of his center-left Labour government, which was elected in a landslide victory in July on a promise to get Britain’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.

While Starmer's office insisted that the speech was not a relaunch, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party said it was an “emergency reset” by a floundering administration that "doesn’t know what it is doing.”

Starmer set out six “milestones” by which his government can be assessed by the time of the next election, which has to take place by summer 2029. They include raising living standards, building 1.5 million homes in England. clearing hospital backlogs, bolstering community policing, improving early years education and securing home-grown energy.

“We face an almighty challenge to hit these milestones by the end of this Parliament," he said. “Our plan for change that is the most ambitious and credible program for government in a generation and we embrace the risk that comes with that.”

Critics said the government had scaled back its ambitions and sidelined the need to get migration levels down, an omission pounced upon by the Conservatives and anti-immigration party, Reform U.K.

Many of the aspirations for the economy and housing will depend hugely on reforming the planning process so the government can override local concerns to get something built. Highlighting how a tunnel full of bats has caused a costly delay in the construction of a high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham, Starmer said things have to change.

“We haven’t built a reservoir for over 30 years, and even the projects we do approve are fought tooth and nail, nail and tooth, until you end up with the absurd spectacle of a 100 million-pound bat tunnel holding up the country’s single biggest infrastructure project, driving up taxes and the cost of living beyond belief," he said. “I’ll tell you now, this government will not accept this nonsense any more.”

Starmer will hope the speech can turn the tide for a government that has struggled to maintain momentum since the election after a row over freebies, the removal from millions of retirees a payment that helps cover winter heating costs and opposition from many businesses and farmers over October’s big tax-hiking budget.

Starmer has insisted that the early months in power have been all about “fixing the foundations" because the previous Conservative government, which had been in power for 14 years, left a 22 billion-pound ($28 billion) “black hole” in the public finances, a charge vigorously denied by the Conservatives.

The government’s first budget in late October included billions in new money for the health system, but also hiked a tax paid by employers to the alarm of many businesses, and imposed inheritance tax on farmers for the first time in decades.

Starmer’s poll ratings have plunged deep into negative territory – though the opposition Conservatives are no more popular. With the two main parties struggling, voters are increasingly looking at alternatives, such as the centrist Liberal Democrats and Reform U.K., which took votes from the Conservatives at the last election and is now targeting Labour heartland areas such as the north of England and Wales.

The challenge for the Labour government is to make sure that voters see a visible improvement by the time of the next election, and Starmer knows that.

“Now, populism isn’t the answer to Britain’s challenges," he said. “Easy answers won’t make our country strong.”

Much of Starmer's time as prime minister has been focused overseas. In Europe, he is trying to reset Britain’s relations with the European Union following years of acrimony over Brexit. But efforts to move closer to the bloc risk angering incoming President Donald Trump, who is hostile to the EU and has threatened to impose tariffs on European goods.