Starmer’s ‘six steps’ are not Labour’s final offer – he has several more tricks up his sleeve

There is good reason why Labour fired its election starting gun with a cautious, limited ‘doorstep’ pitch to would-be voters – there are plenty of goodies being held back until nearer the election, says Andrew Grice

Keir Starmer at the launch in Essex of Labour’s general election campaign (Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

A tale of two speeches, by Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, kicked off what party strategists call the “long campaign” for the general election. It will be very long – probably lasting six months.

Although their target audience was the voters, in the short term the two leaders will probably be more successful in cheering up their own troops. Senior Conservative MPs welcomed Sunak’s focus on defence and national security and his first attempt to talk about what five more years of Tory government would mean. The Tories have belatedly realised they must defend their record in the past 14 years, however embarrassing the Johnson and Truss chapters. If they don’t, it is easier for Labour to make the election a referendum on that record.

One minister told me Sunak’s speech might just mark “a turning point” when the 20-point opinion poll gap starts to close, arguing the PM can finally point to genuine progress in meeting his five pledges to answer the charge of presiding over “broken Britain”.