Starmer has to deliver

Lots of big goals, but hardly any money: Will Labor leader Starmer be able to focus his party on the upcoming government tasks? The party conference in Liverpool is eagerly awaiting his speech.

Almost 20,000 visitors came to Liverpool for the Labor Party conference. Party members, local politicians, representatives, government members. But also lobbyists, journalists and political consultants. Julia Gillard is among them.

She was Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. Today she works for a think tank. The former Labor politician has a message for the new British government. Concentrate on what's important, she said during a panel discussion at the party conference. Because she knows it: fresh into office, a difficult legacy from the previous government, so much to do. If you don't focus, you'll be reminded of a swimmer who's crawling wildly, a lot of water splashes up, but he just can't make any progress.

Labour's wish list is long

Keir Starmer knows all eyes are now on him. The new prime minister must deliver. “Change begins” – change begins is the subtitle for the party conference. “We were elected for change, for making people better off,” Starmer said in an interview with the BBC a few days ago.

But where to start? At the party conference, doctors and nurses discuss the crisis in the NHS health service. The other conference rooms are about infrastructure in rural areas, climate change, and the plight of university funding.

After 14 years in opposition and excessive austerity efforts by the Conservative government, the hope for change is high and the wish list of Labor politicians at all levels is long. Since the Social Democrats' election victory, the poll numbers have plummeted and the Prime Minister is experiencing his first scandal, involving expensive free tickets and sponsored luxury clothing. Can this government deliver what so many hope for?

Finance Minister wants to promote investment

Yesterday, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves tried to mark a departure with her speech at the party conference: “This is our moment. Our chance to show that politics can make a difference, that the best days for Britain lie ahead.” The finance minister will present the budget next month: “This budget is intended to boost growth and promote investment.”

Reeves emphasized that Great Britain is currently experiencing the least investment compared to the other G7 countries. With a budget without financial flexibility it will not be able to do justice to anyone. There is a lack of money for promised hospitals, the expansion of local public transport, education, economic development and housing construction.

Starmer looks to Italy when it comes to migration

Expectations from Labor are also high when it comes to migration policy. For many Brits, this is the most important issue. The government has just stopped the Rwanda model – too expensive, not a single plane has ever taken off. Starmer was in Italy and met Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. He wanted to hear from the right-wing conservative politician what the Italians were doing better. There, he learned how to work on an equal footing with the countries along the escape routes and how to break up smuggler gangs.

Starmer is looking for solutions, he wants to make everything better. Today he is giving the big speech at the end of the party conference. Many in the party want a groundbreaking speech, optimism, a vision, focused, no longer the little-little of the administrative official.

Keir Starmer bravely crawls through the water. It's not yet entirely clear: is it progressing quickly or rather slowly?