Sir Keir Starmer has blamed the Tory Party for riots across the UK after blasting Conservative Prime Ministers for embracing “snake oil populism”.
The Prime Minister took aim at his Conservative rivals as Tory MPs mull over who should succeed Rishi Sunak as Leader of the Opposition.
Speaking from Downing Street’s rose garden, Starmer said: “These riots didn’t happen in a vacuum. They exposed the state of our country, revealed a deeply unhealthy society, the cracks in our foundations laid bare, weakened by a decade of division and decline, infected by a spiral of populism that fed off cycles of failure of the last Government.”
The Prime Minister, who is adopting the slogan “fixing the foundations”, added: “Every time they faced a difficult problem, they failed to be honest. They offered the snake oil of populism which offered more failure, round and round and round. Stuck in the rut of the politics of performance.”
More than 1,000 people were arrested after riots spread across England and Northern Ireland at the end of last month.
Unrest continued as misinformation about the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport mobilised support for violent protests.
Around 130 police officers sustained injuries during the riots which occurred between July 30 and August 5.
Starmer clamped down on rioters by accelerating court proceedings and freeing up prison spaces.
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The Prime Minister used his rose garden speech to claim Labour has done more in seven weeks than the Tory Party did in seven years.
However, unlike Tony Blair’s 1997 victory, Starmer was forced to admit the situation will get worse before it gets better.
“To be blunt,” the Prime Minister said, “if we hadn’t taken that difficult decision immediately, we wouldn’t have been able to respond to the riots as we did, and if we don’t take tough action across the board, we won’t be able to fix the foundations of the country as we need.”
Starmer added: “This Government won’t always be perfect, but I promise this: you will be at the heart of our Government and in the forefront of our minds, at the centre of everything we do.
The riots resulted in violence and disorder
PA
“That’s why I wanted to invite you here today. To show that the decent, hard-working people who make up the backbone of this country belong here and that this Government is for you.
“A garden and a building that were once used for lockdown-breaking parties, are now back in your service.”
Labour is facing criticism from pensioners after Chancellor Rachel Reeves looked to plug a £22billion “black hole” in public sector finances by means-testing winter fuel payments.
Starmer was also forced to clear up allegations of cronyism levied at No10 since he replaced Sunak on July 5.
The Prime Minister said: “I’m not really going to take lectures from people that dragged our country so far down in the past few years.”
Sir Keir Starmer during his speech and press conference in the Rose Garden at 10 Downing Street
PA
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott responded to Starmer’s address by warning voters about the threat Labour poses following its decision to dish out inflation-busting pay rises to public sector workers.
She said: “The Government are no longer promising to protect working people from their incoming tax raid because just like pensioners, working families are next in line for Labour’s tax hikes.
“After promising over 50 times in the election not to raise taxes on working people Labour is now rolling the pitch to break even more promises.
“The Chancellor is entitled to raise taxes to pay for her expensive choices and above inflation pay rises demanded by her union paymasters, but she should have had the courage to be honest from the start. This a betrayal of people’s trust and we will hold them to account for their actions.”
