Keir Starmer vows to restore trust in politics as he kick-starts general election campaign

The Labour leader will once again attempt to distance himself from his predecessor.

Sir Keir Starmer is set to promise Labour will restore trust in politics as campaigning begins in earnest for a general election this year.

In a major speech on Thursday, the Labour leader will insist the power to change Britain lies with the public, and vow his party will be dedicated to serving working people.

With 2024 expected to be the year the Prime Minister calls the next general election, Rishi Sunak will also take to the road on Thursday, with a rival new year stump speech planned in the East Midlands.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to St James' University Hospital in Leeds last month. Photo: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Sir Keir will claim the country is "crying out for change", and accused the Tories of damaging politics with a series of scandals.

He is expected to say: “After 14 years of Tory rule with nothing to show for it, will explain that he understands why people have turned against politics as a force for good, but that this year he will ask people to believe in the power of their vote again:

“This year, at the General Election, against the understandable despair of a downtrodden country, I will ask the British people to believe in it again.

“You’re right to be anti-Westminster and angry about what politics has become.

“But hold on to any flickering hope in your heart that things can be better, because they can, and you can choose it.

“You can reject the pointless populist gestures and the low-road cynicism that the Tories believe is all you deserve. That’s all they have left now. After 14 years, with nothing good to show, no practical achievements to point towards, no purpose beyond the fight to save their own skins.

“They can’t change Britain, so they try to undermine the possibility of change itself.”

With Sir Keir giving a wide-ranging speech, it also shows Labour expect an election in Spring, rather than Winter.

Speaking in the West of England, Sir Keir will also insist an election year can bring hope to people across Britain.

He is expected to say: “The thought of millions of people, right across our country, putting a cross on that ballot paper, it’s what we’ve been waiting for, preparing for, fighting for. A year of choice and the chance to change Britain.

“If you’ve been breaking your back to keep trading, steering your business through the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, the challenge of Brexit and the chaos of Westminster.

“If you’ve been serving our country, whether in scrubs or the uniform of your regiment and what you want now is a politics that serves you, then make no mistake - this is your year.

“The opportunity to shape our country’s future rests in your hands.

“And that is a new year message of hope: the hope of democracy, the power of the vote, and the potential for national renewal.”

The Labour leader will also get personal, discussing how his time in the CPS informed his politics, and why he sees it as a service, not a hobby.

He will say: "I’ve looked into the eyes of people I’ve served or represented and I have seen reflected back the knowledge that government can make or break a life.

“Literally, when it comes to work, I’ve done with people living on death row. Life and death decisions – placed in your hands.

“There’s pressure that comes with that, but that’s the responsibility of justice and public service. And it’s the responsibility of serious government.

“This isn’t a game. Politics shouldn’t be a hobby – a pastime for people who enjoy the feeling of power, and nor should it be a sermon from on high, a self-regarding lecture, vanity dressed up as virtue. No, it should be a higher calling”.

The key theme of his speech will be change, with the former head of the CPS insisting politics can still make a difference to people’s lives.

He will say: “Britain needs change, wants change, is crying out for change. And yet – trust in politics is now so low, so degraded, that nobody believes you can make a difference anymore.

“That after the sex scandals, the expenses scandals, the waste scandals, the contracts for friends, even in a crisis like the pandemic, people have looked at us and concluded we’re all just in it for ourselves.

“A nation that is so exhausted, tired, despairing even, that they’ve given up on hope.

“So, whether you’re thinking of voting Labour for the first time, whether you always vote Labour, or whether you have no intention of voting Labour whatsoever: my party will serve you.

“That’s who we are now, a changed Labour Party. No longer in thrall to gesture politics, no longer a party of protest, but a party of service.”

His speech comes less than 24 hours after Reform UK ruled out entering into any electoral pacts with the Tories, in yet another headache for the Prime Minister.

Richard Tice, the leader of the Nigel Farage-linked party, said he could be “absolutely categoric” there will be no deals despite the alleged pleading of some Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, demanded that the Prime Minister should launch a general election for May rather than “clinging on to power”.

Holding a press conference near Parliament, Mr Tice said the country wants to go to the polls “sooner rather than later” as voters want to “punish the Tories for breaking Britain”.

“The truth is the Tories are terrified,” he told an audience gathered at a plush hotel on Wednesday.

“Yes, in the new year the special pleading has already started: ‘Oh, please don’t stand here, please don’t stand there, I’m one of the nice guys, I believe in everything that you believe in.’”

But Mr Tice insisted he would stand candidates in every constituency, unlike in 2019 when his party – then the Brexit Party – stood down candidates to help Boris Johnson.

“You’ve all broken Britain, you’re all responsible, so there’s no special deals, we stand in every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales,” Mr Tice said.

He said he could be “absolutely categoric that we are not doing any deals with the Tories … under any circumstances”.

Mr Tice said he was “very confident” Mr Farage will play a role for Reform as he eyes a return to frontline politics, but was unable to say how.