Starmer’s ‘generational’ plan to rebuild UK and forge closer ties with EU

King’s Speech sets out Labour flagship policies to fast-track housebuilding, nationalise railways and ‘modernise’ the asylum system – as PM prepares to host other leaders and ‘reset and renew’ our relationship with Europe

Sir Keir Starmer will “fire the starting gun” on Britain’s new relationship with the EU on Thursday as he hosts fellow European leaders after reshaping the country’s destiny with Labour’s King’s Speech.

The new prime minister ushered in a generational shift in British political priorities with a programme for government focused on the needs of “generation rent” voters aged under-45, as opposed to older voters who largely backed Brexit.

Ahead of the general election, Sir Keir campaigned on a promise to “change the country” just as he changed Labour after Jeremy Corbyn. On Wednesday he set out an agenda that includes plans to break the deadlock on affordable housing, protections for renters and the restoration of workplace rights.

And speaking ahead of the pivotal European Political Community (EPC) conference at Blenheim Palace, Sir Keir promised to fix Britain’s damaged relations with Europe to benefit “generations to come”.

Keir Starmer packed the King’s Speech with 40 pieces of proposed legislation (PA Wire)

“We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future,” he said. “That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government’s foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe.

“The EPC will fire the starting gun on this government’s new approach to Europe... from dismantling the people smuggling webs trafficking people across Europe, to standing up to Putin’s barbaric actions in Ukraine and destabilising activity across Europe.”

Sir Keir will hold face-to-face talks with a number of other European leaders, including his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, who was president of the European Council at the height of the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Mr Tusk famously said in 2019 that there was a “special place in hell” for “those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it out safely”.

Sir Keir will focus the one-day conference, taking place at the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, on border security and illegal migration. He will announce the redeployment of more than 100 Home Office staff from the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) to a new rapid-returns unit.

Keir Starmer speaks in the King’s speech debate (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

The prime minister will also aim to help lead the Europe-wide effort to combat organised immigration crime, and the people smuggling gangs trading in human lives, in cooperation with Europol, Frontex, and individual member states.

Illegal migration is an issue with which governments across the continent are grappling, with more than 380,000 people believed to have entered the EU through irregular routes in 2023 – an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year. Around 41 per cent of those arrivals are believed to have come in small boats across the central Mediterranean, 26 per cent on land through the Balkans, and 16 per cent across the eastern Mediterranean.

The prime minister is set to join Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni at a session she is leading on migration, with discussions eased now that Labour’s election win has removed the threat of Britain leaving the ECHR.

As well as giving Sir Keir time with his European counterparts, leaders will use the meeting to affirm support for Ukraine after the recent Nato meeting in Washington.

It is also seen as significant that Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg will attend for the first time. Sir Keir has made clear his intentions of creating a new European security pact as a bulwark for Nato that will involve Britain joining more parts of the Brussels-led permanent military structure.

New European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds was at the Nato summit last week and visited key figures in Brussels this week to get the ball rolling on the security pact and a renegotiation of Boris Johnson’s botched Brexit trade deal.

The reset of relations with Europe follows a generational shift in policy focus in the King’s Speech, reflecting the fact that less than a third of people under the age of 45 own their own home or have a mortgage.

The speech ran to 1,421 words, making it the longest monarch’s speech at a State Opening of Parliament since 2003. Among the key items were:

• A renters’ reform bill to end no-fault evictions, strengthen tenant rights and bring in rent controls
• A planning and infrastructure bill to end the gridlock on getting new homes built forcing huge hikes in the cost of new homes and rents
• An employment rights bill ending exploitative contracts, hire and fire practices and restoring the rights of people to take industrial action over pay and conditions
• An English devolution bill to further empower communities to make decisions for themselves on economic development and transport
• An overhaul of transport with legislation to nationalise rail services and improve bus services to deliver economic growth