Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s remarks at a Downing Street press conference following the first meeting of the new cabinet today
Thank you all for coming. Yesterday the work of change began…
And as the dust settles on Thursday’s result, what is becoming clear for, I think, all to see is the mood of the nation, of the country…
What is expected of us and the mandate that we have to deliver change…
It’s a mandate not just to govern, although it is certainly that, but it’s a mandate that has put trust in us to change the country and to deliver…
And it’s a mandate to do politics differently…
And that change started yesterday as well…
I have, as you’ll have seen, appointed a Cabinet…
That was done yesterday afternoon and completed…
Some went to the Privy Council this morning to receive their seals, which was a moment in history…
We followed that with the first Cabinet meeting of the Labour government of 2024…
At that Cabinet meeting, I had the opportunity to set out precisely what I expect of them in terms of standards, delivery and the trust that the country has put in them…
And yesterday I met Laurie Magnus, the Independent Adviser on standards, to discuss how we deliver in government…
At the Cabinet meeting, I also discussed mission delivery…
How we would put into action the plans that we have set out in our manifesto…
And that we will have mission delivery boards to drive through the change that we need, and that I will be chairing those boards to make sure that it’s clear to everyone that they are my priority in government…
We also talked about preparations for the King’s speech…
And I reminded the entire Cabinet, that we will be judged on actions, not on words…
And this afternoon, I will continue to make a number of frontbench appointments…
We clearly on Thursday got a mandate, from all four nations for the first time in 20 plus years…
We have a majority in England, in Scotland and in Wales…
And that is a clear mandate to govern for all four corners of the United Kingdom…
And therefore, I shall set off tomorrow to be in all four nations…
I shall go first to Scotland…
I shall then go to Northern Ireland…
Then to Wales, and then back to England…
Where I will meet the First Ministers, not just to discuss the issues and challenges of the day. Of course, we will do that…
But also to establish a way of working across the United Kingdom that will be different and better to the way of working that we’ve had in recent years, and to recognise the contributions of all four nations…
On Thursday, we also got a mandate on economic growth – the number one mission of the Labour government…
And so we discussed at Cabinet and have started the work on driving growth…
And to make sure that growth is everywhere across the whole country so that people are better off everywhere, wherever they live…
The principle I operate to is those with skin in the game know what’s best for their communities, and that does require us to be bold about pushing power and resource out of Whitehall…
And therefore, when I return from the four nations, I shall hold a meeting of the Metro mayors to discuss with them their part in delivering the growth that we need across the United Kingdom…
That will be on Tuesday…
That will include non-Labour Metro mayors…
There’s no monopoly on good ideas…
And I’m not a tribal politician…
And the principle I operate to, whether it’s mayors or other elected representatives, is that where regional leaders want to deliver for their area…
Then, regardless of the colour of their rosette, my door is open and my government will work with them…
Later on Tuesday, I shall set off to Washington for the NATO summit…
I’ve already had a number of international calls, as you will know, and as you would have expected, to establish the relations across with other countries to have really important discussions about Ukraine and other pressing issues…
And Washington will be an opportunity for me to have further discussions with some of the leaders I’ve already spoken to and some that I’m due to speak to…
It is, of course, an important summit on NATO…
It is for me to be absolutely clear that the first duty of my government is security and defense, to make clear our unshakable support of NATO…
And of course, to reiterate, as I did to President Zelenskyy yesterday, the support that we will have in this country and with our allies towards Ukraine…
So this will be a politics and a government that is about delivery, is about service…
Self-interest is yesterday’s politics…
I want a politics and a country that works for you…
Thank you very much.
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