Starmer to distance himself from 2019 manifesto with set of key speeches

Keir Starmer is going to “definitively distance himself” from the last Labour manifesto, according to City AM. Sources close to Starmer told the paper he will do so from next week with a speech outlining his stance on some “meaty” economic issues setting out a “totally distinct path from 2019”. Reportedly on the chopping block are the party’s pledges on nationalising rail, mail, energy and water as sources said Starmer is expected to “slaughter the sacred cows of Corbynism” in the run-up to summer. The report follows Steve Reed’s interview with The Mirror earlier this week, in which the Shadow Justice Secretary was clear that the 2019 manifesto is “no longer the Labour Party’s policy platform”.

Starmer won the 2020 leadership contest with ten pledges that were clearly designed to echo the 2017 and 2019 manifestos – albeit with key differences from the document put together for the last election, such as calling for “common ownership” rather than nationalisation (although Starmer did raise his hand in a BBC Newsnight leadership debate indicating he backed nationalising water and electricity). The importance of that particular distinction was exposed by his and Ed Miliband’s respective positions on energy – Starmer rejected nationalisation but described himself as “pragmatic” about common ownership. With a cautious pitch at unifying the party, promising to make Labour “radical and relevant”, Starmer was careful not to alienate the large chunk of members who had backed Corbyn by not making overt attacks on his manifestos. Since that leadership contest, however, he has ramped up his critique.

Starmer revealed in May last year that the policy review being led by Anneliese Dodds would not use the 2017 or 2019 manifestos as its starting point – an early indication of a shift away from the manifestos and his pledges that left Labour MPs urged against. Upon the launch of Progressive Britain, which merged the factional group Progress with think tank Policy Network, he argued: “We have to get the offer right going into the next general election. Nobody is going to do it for us. We can’t hug someone from the past.” He made perhaps his most blunt criticism of the last manifesto in his 2021 conference speech, in which he told members that the party would “never again go into an election with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government”.

With a favourable composition of reps on the national executive committee and Labour now doing well in the polls, Starmer is at his most confident yet. This was shown by his second, more successful stab at a reshuffle bringing forward prominent figures from the Labour right and those thought to be the party’s best communicators. Having sorted the line-up, Starmer is now laying the groundwork for the policies he will pitch at the next election. This week has seen the Labour leader embark on a tour of the country, taking his ‘contract with the British people’ to voters directly.

Starmer said during his leadership bid that “we should treat the 2017 manifesto as our foundational document” – perhaps the shift away from the policies outlined in 2019 will see Labour land closer to the pre-‘Brexit election’ platform. Nonetheless, the message from the leadership is clear: the platform the party stands on will not be the reiteration of a past offering presented in a more reassuring way, which some members had expected after the 2020 leadership campaign, but a new one shaped by Starmer. Sign up to LabourList’s morning email for everything Labour, every weekday morning.