Sir Keir Starmer is beginning the New Year with an ambitious speech putting patriotism at the heart of the Labour Party’s strategy to win support from voters.
Welcoming the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the Commonwealth Games later this year, he claims it is not unpatriotic to criticise things that are going wrong in the country.
He says it is “precisely because we are patriotic” that Labour wants to correct things like the rising cost of living, tax rises, fear of crime and difficulty getting a quick appointment with a GP.
Speaking to local politicians in Birmingham, the Labour leader calls for the courage to build a new Britain in which “you and your family get the security, prosperity and respect that they deserve”.
And in his first personal attack on Boris Johnson of the New Year, he says: “I don’t think politics is a branch of the entertainment industry. I think it’s the serious business of getting things done.”
Sir Keir’s strategy of focusing on patriotism, part of an attempt to explain what Labour stands for, was first revealed in a leaked document last year advising the party to make “use of the (union) flag”.
But the plan has been bitterly criticised by senior left-wing MPs, such as former shadow cabinet members Clive Lewis and Richard Burgon, who claim it risks alienating young and ethnic minority voters.
Sir Keir begins the New Year with opinion polls suggesting Labour now has a modest lead over the Conservatives and with his personal approval ratings now much better than those of the prime minister.
In his speech, the Labour leader celebrates the country we live in and “all that the British have to be proud of” including the rule of law, Her Majesty the Queen and universal public services.
“As we begin this…
Source : skynews
