ADDS MORE DETAILS
By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) - The British premier on Thursday unveiled what he called "Plan for Change" as he pledged more police officers, 1.5 million new homes and fixing the country's National Health Service (NHS) as well as higher living standards in every region of the country.
"Change and reform are coming. That's what this plan means," Keir Starmer told during his address, unveiling his "Plan for Change," in Buckinghamshire, South East England which set out milestones of delivering a "mission-led government."
Saying that the path of change is "long," and "hard," however he vowed to deliver “change the public vote for."
"Populism isn't the answer to Britain's challenges. Easy Answers won't make our country strong," added Starmer.
During his speech, he touched on the immigration issue and pledged to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, saying that this is "what working people want."
Setting out his government's milestones, he named higher living standards in every region of the UK, building 1.5 million new homes, safer streets with more neighborhood police officers, best start in life for every child, clean power by 2030, and ending hospital backlogs.
He stated that that is the government's plan for change, "the driving purpose of this government."
"We will stay the course. We will fix the foundations, repair the damage, reform government and rebuild Britain through the power of change," added Starmer.
- 'Kickstart economic growth'
The Labour government aims to "kickstart economic growth," by raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom, "so working people have more money in their pocket as we aim to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7."
Also aims to "rebuilding Britain," by building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects, more than the last 14 years combined.
Starmer also stressed the "building an NHS fit for the future," by ending hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92% of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.
"Safer street," is another target by the government, set out by Starmer who announced that they will put "police back on the beat with a named officer for every neighbourhood," and 13,000 additional officers, police community support officers and special constables in neighbourhood roles in England and Wales
The British premier also named "break down the barriers to opportunity," by giving children the best start in life, with a record 75% of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school.
As part of his "Plan for Change," he aims to make Britain a "clean energy superpower," securing home-grown energy, protecting billpayers, and "putting us on track to at least 95% clean power by 2030," while accelerating the UK to the Net Zero.
However, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Part criticized the government's "Plan for Change."
"The Prime Minister's emergency reset confirms that Labour had 14 years in opposition and still weren’t ready for government," she wrote on X.
Badenoch added: "This relaunch can't hide the reality of a government that doesn’t know what it is doing."