New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer must warn his fellow citizens on Tuesday that their lives will ‘get worse before they get better’, in his first speech since taking office.Mr. Starmer, leader of the Labor Party which won the July 4 election by a wide margin, is expected to denounce the legacy left by the previous Conservative government, in this speech, extracts of which have been published in advance.
‘We have inherited a black hole, both in the economy and in society. This is why we must act and do things differently,’ he must say in his speech.
‘This means being honest with people: about the choices we face, and the difficulties we will face,’ he adds. ‘Frankly, things are going to get worse before they get better. »
His services did not specify in what context the head of the British government should deliver this speech.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves recently warned that the new government would have to make “difficult decisions” – whether to cut spending or increase taxes – for its first bud
get, which it is due to present on October 30.
Since Labor’s victory, she has repeatedly accused former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives of leaving a £22 billion (nearly pound 26 billion) hole in this year’s budget.
Her opponents claim that she must have known the state of the country’s finances for months that she is simply preparing people’s minds for unpopular announcements.
More generally, commentators say voters could quickly tire of hearing Labor constantly invoking the Conservative legacy instead of taking action.
The situation is ‘worse than we ever imagined’, Keir Starmer should say. According to him, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR, equivalent of the French Court of Auditors) ‘was not aware (…) because the previous government hid this’.
The Prime Minister is also due to discuss the recent riots which shook the United Kingdom after a knife attack in which three young girls who were attending a dance class were killed.
According to him, the rioters were able to exploit ‘the f
ractures in our society after 14 years of populism and failures’ under the conservatives.
The authorities accused far-right activists of having encouraged the riots, which notably targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.
Authorities blamed an online disinformation campaign describing the attacker as a Muslim asylum seeker. He was actually born in Britain to parents from Rwanda, a predominantly Christian country.
Source: Burkina Information Agency
