Keir Starmer vows to fix and rebuild Britain as he savages Tories over schools
Keir Starmer has promised to fix and rebuild Britain as he savages the Tory failure over crumbling schools.
The Labour leader said he would offer the “hope to take this country forward” after 13 years of Conservative rule.
In an interview with the Mirror, he said the closure of schools because of dodgy concrete was another example of inaction from ministers. “This was known to the government five years ago. They've done nothing about it. This is complete inertia,” he said.
Labour this week will force a vote to reveal information about the full extent of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in public buildings, which has forced more than 100 schools to fully or partially or close. Concerns have been raised that many thousands more shut their doors in the coming weeks.
As he attacked the Government’s lack of action, Mr Starmer also highlighted the failure to tackle knife crime and to ensure holiday makers get proper compensation. He said: “The zombie knives story that they're going to clamp down and do something about it. That if you can believe it is the sixth time in seven years they've made exactly the same announcement. This is not controversial, they just need to get on with it.
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Keir Starmer speaks to the Mirror's Political Editor John Stevens (Humphrey Nemar)“Then all the headlines about all the distress and anxiety of all the passengers who've been stranded in various places because of the airline problems. Again, this has happened before 18 months ago, January 2022. The government announced that it's going to bring forward legislation which will ensure that the regulators can make sure that people get proper compensation. Have they done it? No.”
Mr Starmer went on: “This is where the political divide is becoming ever clearer. Rishi Sunak is totally focused on his party and party management. Labour is focused on the country. This is why they're in this position of being simply unable to move forward. Reheating and reannouncing things they've already announced many, many months or years ago and done nothing about.”
In contrast, the Labour leader said: “We're focused on the country. What a different country we would be if we had a change of government and a Labour government because I would wake up every morning thinking, how can we fix the problems and not just fix them, but take the country forward to a better future. I think there's a yearning for that hope, that hope that the country can be fixed, rebuilt and then taken forward and improved. That's what's driving this sense that it's time for change, it's time for the Labour Party focused on the country, bearing the torch of hope to take this country forward.” He added: “With a mission driven Labour government, what you will get is the fix and the rebuild that our country desperately needs.”
Ministers are under pressure to release the full list of schools affected by dodgy concrete. In a new attack ad, Labour asked: "Do you think your child's school should be safe? Rishi Sunak doesn't." It added: "During Rishi Sunak's time as chancellor, he cut spending on school rebuilding by almost HALF. That's after the Tories and Lib Dems scrapped Labour's Building Schools for the Future programme in 2010. The Tories ignored Labour's warnings time and time again - now our children are paying the price with crumbling schools." The problem came to the fore in 2018, when a ceiling at Singlewell Primary School in Kent collapsed.
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