[Politics] Keir Starmer won't commit to more money for public services

[BirSaNN]

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say whether a Labour government would spend more money on public services.

The Labour leader told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg his party would always invest in public services but to do this it needed to grow the economy.

"That has to start with responsible economics and it has to be coupled with reform," he added.

Some, including Labour's biggest union backer Unite, have called for the party to be more ambitious in its pledges.

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However, Sir Keir insisted his promise to reform public services was bold.

He told the BBC he did not just want to offer "sticking plaster" solutions.

"If our horizon and focus is only on the immediate problems, we will never fix the fundamentals," he said, adding that the NHS was "a classic example".

He also gave the example of building more homes, which he said could be achieved not by spending taxpayers money but by reforming the planning system and restoring housebuilding targets.

Asked repeatedly if he believed public services needed more money and if a Labour government would offer this, Sir Keir would only say: "A Labour government will always want to invest in its public services."

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Sir Keir's message to his party was that he would not promise to spend lots of money ahead of the next general election, which is due next year.

For political reasons, he wants to head off any attacks from the Tories and for economic reasons, he and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves think it would be the wrong thing to do.

That is a hard message for many in his party to hear, and likely, many members of the public too, who want answers to the problems they face right now.

As the election approaches, the pressure on Sir Keir to make expensive promises is only going to grow and the party is trying to manage expectations of how much they would actually be able to do if they win power.

Earlier this year Sir Keir said there were "good Labour things" the party would not be able to do immediately in government because of the economic backdrop.

Now he has spelt out even more clearly that spending huge extra sums would only happen once the economy improves.

The Labour leader also refused to say whether his party would offer junior doctors a higher pay offer to end strike action, saying only that a Labour government would "be around the table negotiating and we would settle this dispute".

He added: "This is the government's problem. They as good as broke our public services, they've created a situation in which wages have been stagnant for many, many years and they need to sort out this mess."

Public sector workers including teachers, police and doctors have been offered pay rises of between 5% and 7%, with junior doctors in England in line for 6%.

Four education unions said the deal would allow them to end their pay disputes and that they would advise members to accept the offer.

However, junior doctors in England have asked for a 35% rise to make up for years of below-inflation increases.

Their latest walkout, which lasts five days, runs until Tuesday.

link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-66215122