Keir Starmer to address Welsh Labour conference

Keir Starmer will address Welsh Labour conference on Saturday, his second as Labour leader.

The Labour leader will ask people to ‘place faith in Labour and the change we offer’ as he announces a ‘return to Wales having power of its economic destiny.’

Keir Starmer will paint a picture of the Welsh Labour government, backed by a UK Labour government, as ‘proud, confident, ambitious and successful, thriving in a better Britain, with a hopeful future.”

Starmer will announce a return to ‘Wales having power over its economic destiny’ with a change in funding streams allowing ‘Wales to take back control.’ He will say:

“Only Labour will devolve economic power and control out of Westminster. The decisions which create wealth in our communities should be taken by people with skin in the game.

“Take the scandal of what has happened here in Wales with what used to be EU structural funds, the Shared Prosperity Fund.

“Funds that have been essential for Welsh businesses and communities for years. Powers that have been exercised here since the inception of devolution. The Tories have used the Brexit process to take back control of that money, not from the EU but from Wales.

“Well, no more. Today, I can announce that the next Labour Government will return power over its economic destiny to Wales. The decision-making role for the Welsh Government on structural funds, will be restored. It’s time for Wales to take back control.”

Addressing 13 years of Tory government failure, Starmer will cite Neil Kinnock’s speech in Bridgend 40 years ago in which he warned people, ‘not to be ordinary, not to be young, not fall ill, and not to be old’.’

Starmer will call it a speech that “echoes through the years to speak directly to the country before us today.” He is expected to say:

“You won’t find a better way to describe the pernicious effect of the last thirteen years. The anxiety that has gripped our communities as we lurch from crisis to crisis, gnawing away at our sense of hope, our belief in a better future.”

Starmer will urge his Party to “use the determination those words can inspire to build a better Britain. A fairer, greener, more dynamic country, where working people succeed, aspiration is rewarded, and where together, we unlock the pride and purpose in every community.”

On his determination to be a Prime Minister not just of the United Kingdom, but for a United Kingdom, Keir Starmer is expected to say:

“To comprehensively defeat voices against the case for Britain we need hope. Not a grandiose, utopian dream, kind of hope, but the sort of hope you can build your future around, that aspirations are made of. The hope that’s shared by working people across the United Kingdom in good times and bad. Hope that reached through the generations to say: Britain will be better for your children.

Calling the erosion of hope, ‘the deeper cost of Tory rule’, Starmer will share how his personal journey drives his commitment to build a better Britain. He will say:

“We’ve got to get our sense of hope and possibility back, and they’re not just words for me. It’s the story of my life. The journey I’ve been on, from a working-class family to head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

“I will never accept that this country is destined for decline, and that our best days belong to the past. Success is all around us – it just needs direction. People have huge ambitions for their community, they just need it matched. There is a yearning to come together, to be part of something bigger, an impatience for change, for national Renewal.

“As they’ve done throughout our history, the British people are turning to Labour to provide it.”

On his commitment to an ambitious, hungry, ‘mission led’ government, Keir Starmer will say:

“Our five missions will rekindle the shared hope in every corner of the UK. They will raise our sights and free us from Tory poverty of ambition.

“We need leadership with ambition, hunger to take on the big challenges, and belief in the possibilities of the future. A new determination. That’s what mission-led government is about.”

Keir Starmer’s Labour government will oversee a ‘total overhaul of the Westminster system that ‘hoards potential and a politics which hoards power.’

The UK Labour leader will say he is ‘spurred on by the voices of our children’ to act against climate change. Keir Starmer will say:

“Tackling climate change is the biggest opportunity we’ve had in decades to make this country work for working people.

“We’ve got to come together and write a new chapter in our national story, about how our generation tackled the climate emergency, and used it to create the jobs, the industries, the opportunities of the future.

“That’s what our Green Prosperity Plan is all about – turning the UK into a green growth superpower. Creating good, secure, well-paid jobs.

“Let’s show how Welsh businesses and families will get cheaper bills – forever. How Wales can get real energy independence from tyrants like Putin, and how we can give every community, from Anglesey to Aberdare, a fair shot at the jobs and prosperity of the future.”

Looking ahead to the general election, Keir Starmer will say:

“There will be a clear choice at the next general election between more decline and division with the Tories, or credible change with Labour. Change for Britain that brings with it change for Wales and your community. But to the British people, everywhere, we must show how this spirit combines with the solidarity we offer across the United Kingdom. How, together, we can deliver something even more precious. A Britain once again on the front-foot, with a sense of hope, possibility and ambition. A Britain that gets its future back.”

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