Starmer unveils Christmas card paying tribute to key workers

Keir Starmer has unveiled his Christmas card featuring both him and his wife Victoria paying tribute to NHS staff, carers and key workers in the pandemic outside their home in London earlier this year.

Reiterating his thanks to those workers in the Covid crisis, the Labour leader described the moment in the image as one of “huge national solidarity”. The photograph was taken during the first wave of cases in the UK.

Commenting on the workers on the frontline in the health crisis, Starmer said today: “We continue to owe our carers and key workers a huge debt of gratitude. Their courage and dedication in the face of this virus has been truly incredible.

“This Christmas, carers and emergency workers, alongside our armed forces and other key workers, will step up yet again. They will sacrifice precious time with their families to keep us safe.

“We must repay them, not just with our gratitude, but by fighting for fair pay and conditions for all those who have given so much to help our country through this pandemic.”

Labour has pledged today to continue campaigning against the pay freeze proposed by the government for millions of public sector workers, as well as backing trade union demand for a real living wage of £10 per hour.

Rishi Sunak announced at the spending review that 2.5 million public sector staff will see their pay frozen, including 90% of police, 80% of fire service and 75% of prison officers, 80% of secondary and 75% primary school teachers.

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds slammed the decision after the Chancellor “stood on his doorstep and clapped for key workers” earlier in the year, and she warned that the freeze would take a “sledgehammer to consumer confidence”.

The opposition party has highlighted research that last month found three quarters of care workers earned less than the real living wage on the eve of the pandemic. Angela Rayner described the level of pay at the time as “absolutely unconscionable”.

The Labour Party has also reiterated the call from Starmer for a “comprehensive national action plan” for the roll-out of the Covid vaccine. The first Pfizer/BioNTech jab has been administered in hospitals today.

The Labour leader declared last month that “we need to pull everybody together” and pledged to “work constructively with the government” to deliver a plan for the roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine across the UK.

Jeremy Corbyn released a Christmas card last year designed by a nine-year-old with cystic fibrosis, Luis Walker, and vowed to take on big pharmaceutical companies as Walker had initially been denied life-saving treatment.

The former Labour leader struck an optimistic note with an earlier card released in 2017 after the snap election called by Theresa May that year. He said at the time the party was looking forward to entering 2018 “as a government in waiting”.

This followed Corbyn’s card in 2016, a turbulent year for the party during which the then Labour leader won a second leadership contest after a failed coup. The design featured a minimalist drawing of a dove carrying an olive branch.

Now Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband opted for a family picture in his 2015 Christmas card, which of course came ahead of the general election later that year, picturing him alongside his wife and two children.

The latest message bearing Christmas wishes from current Labour leader Keir Starmer is perhaps predictably concerned with the ongoing pandemic in the UK. LabourList is sorry to report it has not yet received a card.