Starmer launches Labour local elections campaign with “on your side” slogan

Labour launches its local elections campaign in Bury today. Keir Starmer is expected to urge voters to “send the Tories a message they cannot ignore” on the cost of living by voting Labour in May. In a speech at a launch event this morning, the Labour leader will declare that his party is “on your side”, while attacking government policies for leaving households across the country thousands of pounds worse off this year. Strongly criticising the measures announced by Rishi Sunak in the Spring Statement last week, Starmer will say: “What did we get in that mini-Budget? A Conservative government that takes far more than it gives to working people.” He is set to unveil findings that show Tory policy is causing a £2,620 hit to family finances even after the measures in the Spring Statement, concluding: “Britain deserves better than this.”

There are high stakes in these local elections. They offer the first concrete opportunity to see the impact of ‘partygate’ and recent incidents of Tory sleaze – epitomised by the Owen Paterson scandal last year –  on voter mood across the country. In the immediate term, the fallout from those revelations resulted in a significant boost in the polls for Labour. After a more recent focus on the war in Ukraine, can Starmer’s party translate that into local election success? Add to the mix the continued Tory failure to address the spiralling cost of living, and the pressure is really on Labour to seize the opportunity presented by the elections – though naturally Starmer has downplayed expectations, describing the contests as “incredibly tough”. “They are the 2018 cycle, when Theresa May’s Tories were at their lowest ebb. We already hold well over half the seats that are up for grabs,” he told the parliamentary party in February.

Bury as a launch location illustrates some of the political challenges facing Starmer. The MP for Bury South Christian Wakeford dramatically defected to Labour from the Conservatives in January, citing the cost-of-living crisis and partygate among the reasons for his decision. But his reception locally has been mixed, with some calling for a by-election. Smoothing the path for Wakeford to be Labour’s candidate at the next general election would cause some controversy within the local party, especially as Bury South and neighbouring Bury North are key marginals. The latter in particular is considered a bellwether seat. The two are also sometimes seen to be part of Labour’s ‘Red Wall’, though their electoral history is more mixed than other areas. Starmer has presented himself as the safe pair of hands capable of regaining Labour’s heartlands, so the party’s performance in Bury at the local elections will be a key test.

I’m here in Bury and about to head off to the launch event – do come over and say hi if you’re there. For those not making the trip, we’ve got a write-up of what Starmer is expected to say. Elsewhere on LabourList, Labour Senedd member Mick Antoniw writes about the Ukraine conflict and the need for Labour to lead on a global ethical foreign policy in its aftermath. We also have a piece on yesterday’s PMQs, during which Starmer challenged the Prime Minister on partygate and the cost of living, calling on Johnson to “cut the nonsense and treat the British people with a bit of respect”. Sign up to LabourList’s morning email for everything Labour, every weekday morning.