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Keir Starmer will seek to unite a fractious party and a divided country behind him in a battle for the ‘soul’ of the UK. The UK prime minister will use his leader’s speech at the Labour conference to take aim at Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the ‘politics of grievance’, promising instead ‘a land of dignity and respect’. But after a turbulent period for his leadership and the prospect of a Budget in November which could see tax hikes and spending squeezes, Starmer will warn that further difficult choices will be needed on the path to ‘national renewal’. The speech comes at a challenging moment for the prime minister following speculation about a challenge to his leadership fuelled by criticism from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham although he insisted on Monday he believes Starmer is the right man for the job. Meanwhile, Farage’s party continues to enjoy a comfortable advantage in the polls, and Labour faces a battle to keep its promises on taxation, spending and immigration. The prime minister will say: ‘We can all see our country faces a choice, a defining choice. Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency. Or we can choose division. ‘Renewal or decline. A country proud of its values, in control of its future or one that succumbs, against the grain of our history, to the politics of grievance.’ Starmer will compare the challenge facing Labour now to Clement Attlee’s administration in 1945 as it rebuilt Britain from the ruins of the Second World War. The prime minister will say: ‘It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge. ‘And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party. ‘Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect. ‘Everyone seen, everyone valued, wealth creation in every single community, working people in control of their public services, the mindless bureaucracy that chokes enterprise, removed so we can build and keep on building.’ Starmer believes Britain can ‘unite around a common good. That’s my ambition, the purpose of this government,’ he will say. ‘End decline, reform our public services, grow our economy from the grassroots.’ Starmer will promise a technological revolution for the NHS, with a new ‘online hospital’ for patients in England aimed at cutting waiting lists and providing quicker treatment and advice. The scheme, which will begin operating in 2027, will deliver up to 8.5 million extra NHS appointments in its first three years, Labour claimed. Those who use the service will be able to access and track prescriptions, be referred for scans and tests, and receive clinical advice on managing their condition. Patients who require a physical test or a procedure will be able to book them on the NHS app at a nearby hospital, surgical hub or community diagnostic centre. Starmer will describe it as ‘a new chapter in the story of our NHS, harnessing the future, patients in control’. Chief Secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones said Starmer would use his speech to ‘rise above’ gossip about Burnham and address the nation directly. Jones, who campaigned for Burnham following the election in 2015, rejected the Greater Manchester mayor’s assertion that there was a ‘climate of fear’ within Labour. ‘I don’t really understand why he said that,’ he told an event on the fringes of the conference. I just don’t recognise that in the slightest.‘ Asked whether his interventions had galvanised the prime minister, Jones said: ’Look, Keir’s the prime minister. ‘He’s absolutely focused on the country and his speech to the country today. ‘There’s always gossip and league tables and who’s up and who’s down& but the prime minister has to rise above that and talk to the country, and that’s what the prime minister has been doing.’ Jones was pressed again on an apparent shift in ministerial language on the prospect of raising VAT, which Labour pledged in its manifesto to avoid doing. The senior minister had said the commitment ‘still stands today’ but refused to rule out the possibility it will be ditched at the Budget during a Sky News interview on Monday, prompting speculation of a hike. ‘You don’t need to worry about it,’ he told the audience on Tuesday. ‘Now it’s tomorrow today and it still stands.’ Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake will say: ‘Keir Starmer calls this a fork in the road, but he’s already driven Britain into a cul-de-sac of chaos. ‘Families are fighting to cope with higher bills, higher taxes on their jobs and higher mortgage rates whilst his doom loop chancellor is secretly plotting to pile tax upon tax, debt upon debt, which will further grind the economy down and shatter the public’s trust.’ Before the prime minister’s speech, Health Secretary Wes Streeting will claim there is an ‘existential threat’ facing the NHS from Reform. He will also set out social care funding plans and stress the need for NHS modernisation and the embrace of new technology. ‘Our health service and our social care services need to change with the times, in order to ride the wave of that revolution, rather than see our people victims of it,’ he said ahead of his speech. By David Hughes, Christopher McKeon and Nina Lloyd Press Association: News source: PA Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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