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On Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer will try to revive his floundering government by setting out targets designed to convince disaffected voters he is making progress on their priorities and push Whitehall into action.
Starmer’s “plan for change” will include milestones such as raising living standards or making the streets safer.
But the impending announcement on Wednesday was described by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch as an “emergency reset five months into the premiership”.
Although Starmer claims the new milestones are in line voters’ prioritiesLabor insiders say they are also taking direct aim at the dysfunctional Whitehall machine.
“At least 50% of it is directed against Whitehall,” said one Labor official. “If we don’t change the way we work, we will fail.”
Number 10 said Starmer wanted to “energize the machinery of government to focus its resources on achieving the milestones he will set”.
Wanted”Change plan” was conceived by Pat McFadden, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, as a means of convincing voters that the government was delivering. Starmer’s poll ratings have went down after the party’s victory in the July 4 elections.
McFadden is expected to deliver another major public sector reform speech before Christmas, an intervention some government insiders are calling the “second leg” of Starmer’s relaunch.
This speech will further explain how the state will reform and evolve to meet the challenges, including through smarter use of data and algorithms.
Starmer’s speech on Thursday also aims to explain concrete goals to voters after a carousel of past initiatives that include the “five missions” promised in the party’s manifesto and the “six commitments” outlined in May.
Badenoch said on Wednesday that Starmer’s “mission” to make Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7 was rarely mentioned, prompting her to ask if it had been undone.
Labor officials say its “milestone” for measuring growth will focus on household living standards.
“We’ve lost our way a bit,” said one Labor MP. “In the real world, people want to see results and don’t care about missions or milestones. It’s all like an internal exercise.”
Starmer’s milestones, including a promise of 13,000 extra police officers, will also cover the economy, health, school readiness and energy security.
One Whitehall insider said they felt Starmer had made the wrong move by focusing so much attention on “technocratic” goals and calling the speech a political moment. “This is a tactical mistake. If you want to be judged on performance, it’s better to show than tell.’
Another Whitehall official has accused Labor of giving too little thought to civil service reform before taking office. “They’ve identified the endgame—the outcome they want—but they still don’t know the ‘how.’
The person also warned that the government is placing too much emphasis on artificial intelligence reforming public services, while most trials currently involve AI replacing only basic administrative tasks.
“There is no sense of a big silver bullet,” they added. “Many public services involve human interaction. But AI can still be useful for freeing up resources in the fields. Never mind improving things, even standing still is a problem for some services. So even a little bit of efficiency is helpful.”
John McTernan, Tony Blair’s political secretary in Number 10, said: “Voters are demanding a change in the way Britain is governed after the Brexit referendum. If Labor wants radical change, for people to experience their services and for living standards to improve, business as usual needs to stop.’
