Starmer says Labour’s decentralisation plans will address concerns that made many people back Brexit
Keir Starmer is now speaking at the Labour event. He says it is fantastic to be back at Leeds University, where he spent three happy years.
He praises Tracy Brabin’s record in West Yorkshire, protecting the safety of women and girls, and delivering better and cheaper buses.
But she is being held back by the centralisation of power in the UK, he says.
He says Britain is one of the most centralised countries in Europe, “and the centre has not delivered”.
He says people want change. He argued for the UK to remain in the EU during the Brexit referendum. But he says he could not argue against what many leave voters were calling for – more control over their lives.
And the same applied in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, he says.
People up and down this country are crying out for a new approach. During the Brexit referendum I argued for remain. But I couldn’t disagree with the basic case that many leave voters made to me.
They wanted democratic control over their lives so they could provide opportunities for the next generation, build communities they felt proud of, and public services they could rely on.
And I know that in the Scottish referendum in 2014, many of those who voted yes did so for similar reasons. The same frustration at a Westminster system that seems remote. The same yearning for the power to build a fairer future for themselves and their families.
People know Britain needs change. But they are never going to get it from the Tories. I am determined that, with Labour, people will get the change they deserve.
Key events
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Q: Is House of Lords reform really a priority for people?
Starmer says this is just one of many recommendations. What drives him is “fixing our broken economy, and fixing our broken politics”. He says this report is central to that.
He says he and the shadow cabinet spend their whole time out of London. And everywhere it is the same story; people have ideas for improving their community, but they do not have the power to implement them.
He says “huge ambition for the country” underpins the report.
People are fed up with this sense that things are broken, he says. Labour will fix it.
And that’s it. The Q&A is over.
Q: [From ITV’s Romilly Weeks] House of Lords reform is notoriously difficult. Do you expect to implement it?
Starmer says he asked for recommendations that could be implemented in the first five years of a Labour government. He wants to do that. He wants to lead a Labour government that delivers, not one that just carries on the discussion.
Starmer says he wants to give local leaders new powers over a wide range of policy areas. (See 9.38am.)
Brown says, when the commission was sitting, it found innovative companies all over the UK that needed support. They needed support at a local level, with training, research, and infrastructure. If mayors could back them up, they would be in a better position to expand.
He says he is talking about innovative industries, like digital and life sciences.
The report is build around the idea that, if these industries get support, the economy will be more effective.
Q: New money is needed as well as new power. Where will that come from?
Starmer says he wants to decentralise control over money. A lot of money is in silos controlled by the centre, he says. He says the government’s levelling up plan involves asking people to bid for money controlled by Westminster.
Starmer invites Brown to contribute, but Brown says Starmer has summed it up.
Q: [From the Yorkshire Post] Are you ruling out a one Yorkshire devolution deal?
Starmer says he does not want to use the commission as a place to have an argument about the boundaries for new mayoralties.
That does not mean he is saying current boundaries for mayoralities should never change, he says.
If Labour goes down the “rabbit warren” of just talking about boundaries, nothing will get done, he says.
Q: How will Leeds be affected by these plans?
Starmer says Leeds has really good hubs that can be developed.
(See 9.38am for more on what the report says about the importance of economic hubs or clusters.)
Starmer says decentralisation not ‘handing power away’ but ‘putting power where it should be’
Q: [From the FT’s Jennifer Williams] After being out of office for more than 12 years, are you really going to hand power away as the first thing you do.
Yes, says Starmer. But he goes on:
I don’t see it as handing power away. I see it as putting power where it should be.
Starmer says the council for regions and the nations proposed in the report, the council of the nations, and the council for England, are not alternative bodies.
The council for regions and the nations would replace the Lords. The council of the nations would replace the joint consultative council (a body that allows the UK government to talk to the devolved governments). And the council for England would look at England-only representation.
Q: Would you abolish hereditary peers immediately? [Current rules allow 90 hereditary peers to be elected by other hereditary peers to sit in the Lords.]
Starmer says he does not think anyone can justify the retention of hereditary peers. “The sooner we abolish them, the better,” he says. But he says the Lords reform plans should be seen as part of a wider package.
Q: Could the new Lords go to a city like Leeds?
Starmer says the report does not make a recommendation on moving the site of the second chamber. He says he thinks the composition is more important. It would include people from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.
Q: If the government legislates to introduce minimum service levels of public services, to reduce the impact of strikes, would you repeal that?
Starmer says he does not think legislation is the answer. He says the government needs to negotiate and resolve these disputes.
Starmer says recommendations in report are ‘first term agenda’
Q: [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] How much of this do you want to happen?
Starmer says, when he set up the commission, he wanted recommendations that could be implemented in the first term of a Labour government.
He says he wants the period of consultation on this to happen now, not after the election.
He wants all the recommendations to be delivered as quickly as possible.
He is not putting this off, he says. He does not want a discussion “going on for years on end”.
People feel they are not being heard, he says.
He goes on: “This is a first term agenda.”
