Keir Starmer speech: Prime Minister lumps SNP in with Reform, claiming both 'want Britain to fail'
Sir Keir also had a couple of jabs at Gordon Brown in his keynote speech.
Sir Keir Starmer said both the SNP and Reform “actually want Britain to fail” during his Labour Party conference speech.
The Prime Minister grouped the Nationalists and right-wing party together as he spoke at the hall in Liverpool on Tuesday.
He questioned whether both parties “really want to fix our problems and renew Britain”.
Sir Keir also thanked Glasgow shipbuilders for helping defend Europe from Russia and took a couple of veiled swipes at former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The Prime Minister told delegates: “The question I ask seriously of Nigel Farage and Reform is: do they love our country? Do they want to serve our country? All of it, our beautiful, tolerant diverse country. Every nation and city.
“Or do they just want to stir the pot of division because that’s what’s in their interest.”
He continued: “When push comes to shove, do they really want to fix our problems and renew Britain? Or, as we’ve seen time and again, whether it’s the SNP, the extremes of the left, or Reform or the Tories now, do they actually want Britain to fail?
“I think we know the answer to that question.”
Attacks on Gordon Brown
Sir Keir also made a couple of apparent attacks on the last Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown during his conference speech.
He accused the Scot of being “complacent” after the global financial crash in 2008 - when Mr Brown was prime minister.
Sir Keir also seemed to criticise Mr Brown for “patronising” working class voters.
The Prime Minister said Labour must never find itself “defending a status quo that manifestly failed working people”.
He said: “That’s what I say to people who think it would be ‘nice’ if we could just go back to politics before Brexit or the crash.
“And this does go back that far, conference. The global financial crisis is when we were exposed, when a new Britain should have been born.
“Complacent. That’s the only way to describe it – complacent. We placed too much faith in globalisation.”
Sir Keir then had a veiled swipe at Mr Brown over him being caught on mic calling a voter “a bigoted woman”.
The Prime Minister discussed a woman he had met who he had been “told had strong views on immigration” soon after becoming an MP.
He said: “She - an ordinary working class woman from Oldham - felt that she had to prove to a Labour politician that she wasn’t racist before she could even bring up the issues in her community.
“I’ve carried that with me through all the bad years. Whatever our intention, we have become a party that patronised working people and that is why we changed the party.”
In the 2010 general election campaign Mr Brown was interrupted during a live interview in Rochdale by 65-year-old Gillian Duffy.
After being heckled by Ms Duffy about immigration, Mr Brown angrily hit out at his advisers once in a taxi with his microphone still on.
Starmer hails Clyde shipbulding
Sir Keir hailed the “talent of Glasgow and the Clyde” for securing a £10 billion deal to build warships for the Norwegian navy during his speech.
The two BAE Systems yards in Scotstoun and Govan now have 15 years of work because of the deal reached between the UK and Norwegian governments to build at least five Type 26 frigates.
Sir Keir told the conference: "Take our investment in defence - undeniably good for growth. Vital for national security and the whole of the continent. Impossible without really tough decisions on aid.
“Just look at the new deal to build Norwegian frigates - that doesn't happen without our investment. A decade of shipbuilding on the Clyde. That heritage, that pride, secure for future generations.
"Now, those frigates could have been built anywhere. But that was the old mentality, that it didn't matter. But we want to build them here, in Britain. We want to invest in that reputation, in those skills, in the talent of Glasgow and the Clyde.
"Now conference, five days after that deal I went to the shipbuilding yard on the Clyde. I went to the canteen where the workers were having their lunch. I stood in front of them and I said 'thank you for your hard [work] - and your reputation which allowed us to win that deal'.
"They were being judged against other countries - France, Germany, and the US - and they won. They were proud. They said to me ‘this was the answer to the mantra they heard, people who said that British shipbuilding was dead’. They told me how much it meant to them and their communities.
"And they were proud because they knew exactly what those frigates were for. And they were proud to contribute, proud that their community was chosen by an ally looking for a partner to defend our continent from Putin's aggression."
Flags take centre stage
Flags took centre stage in the Prime Minister’s speech as he pledged to renew the country “with the flag in our hands”.
Ministers and delegates alike waved their Welsh, Scottish and English flags with glee.
He said the flags of the four UK nations “belong to all of us and we will never surrender them”.
Union flags were also flown by attendees as Sir Keir committed to “fight next year’s elections as patriots of our great nations”.
Economic growth will stop division
The Prime Minister told delegates and activists the economic growth was “the antidote to division”.
He said: “So much of it comes back to economic growth.
“In fact, I’ll say it now, so there’s no doubt: The defining mission of this Government is to grow the economy, improve living standards and change the way we create wealth.”
Sir Keir later added: “Growth is the pound in your pocket, it is more money for trips, meals out, the little things that bring joy to our lives, the peace of mind that comes from economic security.
“But it is also the antidote to division – that’s the most important aspect of national renewal.”
SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn MP said: "Keir Starmer's speech completely failed to face up to the fact that Labour promised people 'change' but have caused more chaos. Labour promised better, but from rising energy bills to soaring food prices, people feel that things have become even worse. People remember those broken Labour promises, they won't remember this speech.
"There's a reason why Keir Starmer has suffered the worst fall in popularity of any British Prime Minister - people put their trust in him and the Labour Party and they have torn up that trust in only a year. One speech and more false promises won't rebuild the trust they have so casually and quickly thrown away.”
Mr Farage said Sir Keir’s branding of Reform UK immigration plans as racist “will incite and encourage the radical left” and “directly threatens the safety” of his party’s campaigners.
The Reform leader said Sir Keir should feel “ashamed” of his comments, which he called an “absolute disgrace” in the wake of the fatal shooting of conservative US activist Charlie Kirk.
In a live broadcast responding to Sir Keir’s speech, Mr Farage said that by labelling his party’s policies as racist, “by implication, Reform supporters, Reform voters, Reform sympathisers are racist too”.
He said: “Yes, if you think we should patrol our borders, you are, by the definition of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, all racists…
“To accuse countless millions of being racist is a very, very low blow.
“Why? Well, this language will incite and encourage the radical left. I’m thinking of Antifa and other organisations like that.
“It directly threatens the safety of our elected officials and our campaigners.
“And, frankly, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk murder, I think this is an absolute disgrace.”
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