Rishi Sunak 'haunted by Tory imagination ghosts', says Keir Starmer

02 November 2023 , 22:30

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Keir Starmer will use a speech in Friday to say that Rishi Sunak is "haunted" (Image: PA)

Next week’s King’s Speech outlining the Government’s pre-election plans will be a “manifesto for stagnation”, Keir Starmer will warn tomorrow.

Charles III will carry out Tuesday’s State Opening of Parliament - his first as monarch. The ceremonial occasion is expected to be the last before the next general election which could usher in a Labour government - the first since 2010.

The party’s leader will tell Friday's North East Chamber of Commerce President’s lunch the “Tories’ path of decline” is “holding a veto over British aspiration”. Mr Starmer is expected to say: “Britain needs this King’s Speech to kick off a ‘big build’. We have to provide the businesses, communities and people of this nation with the conditions to succeed - a fundamental deal that we serve the country while you drive it forward.

"The Tories can’t do this - Rishi Sunak is too weak to stand up to the blockers on his backbenchers, too haunted by ghosts of Conservative imagination to see the country’s problems as you see them.”

The Labour leader will insist he has “no time for Tory excuses”, adding: “Politics is about choices - do you face up to tough decisions? Or you duck them? That has always been the test. Wherever Labour finds barriers to British success – we will bulldoze through them.”

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