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And here is the Labour party’s summary of the speech in a tweet.
Here is the full text of Keir Starmer’s speech.
Q: Lisa Nandy has said you would align to EU law in more areas. What are those, and does it mean you would compromise UK sovereignty?
Starmer says he has set out the five principles that would govern how he approaches that. He says he does not think anyone believes the current system is working.
And that’s the end of the Q&A.
Q: You did not mention small boats. Is that because you have not got a plan?
Starmer says Labour has got a plan for dealing with this issue.
Only 4% of people who crossed the Channel last year have had their claims processed. He says he could not believe that figure when he saw it.
Starmer refuses to confirm that he’s still committed to abolishing student tuition fees
Q: Given what you say about not offering big chequebook government, does that mean you will drop the plan to abolish student tuition fees?
Starmer says the current tuition fees system is not working.
But Labour will have to be honest about what it can do, he says. The damage done to the economy means that it will have to cost everything it would do before goes into the election. He goes on:
And we will do that with discipline as we’ve done it so far.
I’m not gonna spell out our manifesto in advance.
When Starmer stood for the Labour leadership, one of his 10 pledges was that he would “support the abolition of tuition fees and invest in lifelong learning”.
Starmer says Labour would repeal anti-strike bill proposed by government if it becomes law
Q: Would you repeal the government’s proposed anti-strike government if it is law by the time you win an election? And do you think there is a case for minimum service level legislation?
Starmer says the government is all over the place on this. He does not think this legislation will work. And he thinks the government has had advice saying it would make the situation worse. He goes on:
If it’s futher restrictions then we will repeal it … I do not think that legislation is the way you bring an end to industrial disputes.
That is significant. In the past, Labour figures have said they would oppose the bill, but sidestepped questions as to whether they would repeal the bill if it makes the statute book.
Q: What would you offer nurses to end the strike?
Starmer says the government should talk to them. There has to be compromise, he says. He says nurses do not want to be on strike.
The government has got “no strategy whatsoever” for dealing with this, he says.
Q: Do you think there more scope for getting the private sector do deliver public services?
Starmer says he does not favour central government controlling everything, or leaving it all to the market. He favours “an agile, active state working with in partnership with private business”.
Starmer dismisses Sunak’s five promises to voters as ‘weak’
Q: How would your approach to resolving the strike be different?
Starmer says Sunak’s promises yesterday were “weak”. He cites the inflation pledge as an example, pointing out that inflation is expected to go down anyway.
On health, he says Labour has a fully funded plan to expand the workforce.
This is an example of what he means by not just having a sticking plaster approach, he says.
Starmer won’t say if Labour would match Tory spending limits at next election
Starmer is now taking questions.
He says he wants to take quite a few.
(Rishi Sunak won plaudits from the media for taking 15 questions at his press conference yesterday.)
Q: Will you match Tory spending limits going into the election?
Starmer says he made the point about not using a big chequebook because Labour will inherit a badly damaged economy.
It already has its fiscal rules. It will stick to those.
But he wants a different approach.
