Starmer: ‘My experience now as Prime Minister is of frustration’

Prime Minister Keir Starmer sat down to answer questions on all areas of government policy, as the final Liaison Committee session of 2025 took place yesterday.

The Liaison Committee allows the opportunity for Select Committee chairs to scrutinise Government policy directly to the Prime Minister, meeting with him two to three times annually. 

Difficulty in delivery

After taking questions on topics such as the ministerial code, further education and taxes on farmers, it was Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth and Chair of the Transport Select Committee Ruth Cadbury that had a key question for the Prime Minister asking simply: “What have you found most difficult in delivering the ‘Plan for Change’?”

READ MORE: Labour’s identity crisis – caught between Blairism and Blue Labour

The Prime Minister replied: “Speed and ability to get things done in Parliament” before describing his irritations with what he suggested are an excessive amount of “checks and balances,” “consultations” and “arms length bodies” that the Government interacts with, leading to a slowing down of their ability to deliver the ‘Plan for Change’.

He said: “My experience now as Prime Minister is of frustration. Every time I go to pull a lever there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arms length bodies, that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be, which is among the reasons I want to cut down on regulation generally and within government.”

A dose of tough medicine: PM calls BMA strikes irresponsible

When questioned on a scale of one to ten as to “how gutted” the Prime Minister was in relation to the British Medical Association (BMA) vote to reject the Government’s offer and Doctors to continue strike action this week, he responded “Very gutted. Ten out of ten” before describing the decision made by the BMA as “irresponsible action and not for the first time.”

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Simon Hoare, Conservative MP for North Dorset and chair of Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, pressed whether the BMA may be justified in believing the government would “cough and sign the cheque” should they press ahead. The Prime Minister responded that this would not happen before stating this decision would put NHS productivity in jeopardy. 

Strike action is scheduled to take place between Wednesday 17th December and Monday 22nd December. 

Delays, delays and delays: committee chairs apply pressure over ever-moving publication of strategies.

Throughout the committee meeting, questions arose regarding delays on the publication of significant government strategies.

Chair of the Defence Select Committee and Labour MP for Slough, Tan Dhesi, raised the delay to the publication of the Defence Investment Plan, which had been due to be released by Autumn. He put this to the Prime Minister in the context of the effect this delay has on the country’s ability to prepare, with no command signal available to industry.

The Prime Minister stated that this would be published as soon as it was ready, stressing the importance of the decisions carried out throughout the process of putting the plan together.

However, defence was not the only area in which delays to government output were raised.

Karen Bradley, chair of the Home Affairs Committee, drew the Prime Minister’s attention to the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy. The Conservative MP for Staffordshire Moorlands said the Government had promised this strategy would be released before the summer, before moving to a September release date and missing this too. She stated the delays to this strategy were having “real world consequences”. 

The Prime Minister responded that the strategy would be published “As soon as possible”, with an attempt to reassure the committee that this was very close. 

What does this mean for Labour in 2026?

The Prime Minister’s ninety minutes in the hot seat saw consistent defences of the decisions made by his Government, alongside commitments to review certain cases raised by Liaison Committee members.

It is clear that the PM recognises issues with speed when delivering the ‘Plan for Change’. It is likely the Government will seek to continue addressing these, with considerations around removing “arms-length bodies” surely on the table following the Prime Minister’s comments today. 

As Labour gears up for elections in the spring next year, the leadership must be aware that voters need to feel the change Labour has planned for.

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