Reform of public institutions at
Bute House. Starmer has repeatedly emphasised the reform of public institutions (against a
tax and spend approach),
localism, and
devolution. He has pledged to
abolish the House of Lords, which he has described as "indefensible", during the first term of a Labour government and to replace it with a directly elected Assembly of the Regions and Nations, the details of which will be subject to public consultation. He criticised the
Conservative Party for handing peerages to "cronies and donors". Upon becoming leader of the Labour Party, Starmer tasked former Labour prime minister
Gordon Brown with recommending
British constitutional reforms. The report was published in 2022 and was endorsed and promoted by Starmer, and recommended the abolition of the House of Lords, extending greater powers to local councils and mayors, and deeper devolution to the
countries of the UK. Labour's 2024 election manifesto
Change committed to the removal of the
remaining hereditary peers from the chamber, setting a
mandatory retirement age of 80, and beginning a consultation on replacing the Lords with a "more representative" body. Starmer favours Britain's current
first-past-the-post voting system and opposes
proposals for electoral reform, such as the adoption of
proportional representation (PR), although he has expressed support for PR in the past. In December 2024, he declined to provide debate time for
Sarah Olney's
Ten Minute Rule bill on PR as "not our policy". He has been criticised for his attitude to the issue of Britain's voting system, including by McDonnell, who accused him of acting like a monarch.
Public services , 6 July 2024 Starmer supports
social ownership and investment in the UK's public services, including the
National Health Service (NHS). During the
2020 Labour leadership election, he pledged to increase income tax for the top 5% of earners and to end corporate
tax avoidance; He advocates the reversal of the Conservative Party's cuts in corporation tax and supported Labour's
anti-austerity proposals under Corbyn's leadership. He has called for an "overhaul" of the UK's
Universal Credit scheme. Opposing
Scottish independence and a
second referendum on the subject, the Labour Party under Starmer's leadership has set up a constitutional convention to address what he describes as a belief among people across the UK that "decisions about me should be taken closer to me". Starmer is against the
reunification of Ireland, having stated that he would be "very much on the side of Unionists" if there were to be a border poll.
Healthcare In Government, Starmer reaffirmed the outgoing Conservative government's commitment of no new
HIV cases in the United Kingdom by 2030. On 10 February 2025 Starmer, alongside the singer and HIV activist
Beverley Knight and the
Terrence Higgins Trust chief executive Richard Angell, recorded himself taking a
rapid HIV home test. This made Starmer the first serving British prime minister and serving leader of a
G7 nation to take a test on camera.
Economy with his
chancellor,
Rachel Reeves, 6 July 2024 Starmer strongly favours
green policies to tackle
climate change and
decarbonise the British economy. He has committed to eliminate
fossil fuels from the
UK electricity grid by 2030. In 2021, Starmer and then
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged that a Labour government would invest an extra £28 billion a year in green industries; in June 2023 this was changed to £28 billion per year by the middle of their first term of government. Since 2022, Reeves has adhered to "modern supply-side economics", an economic policy which focuses on infrastructure, education and labour supply by rejecting tax cuts and deregulation. In 2023, Reeves coined the term "securonomics" to refer to her version of this economic policy. On taking office as
Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2024, Reeves stated that since there is "not a huge amount of money" her focus will be on "unlocking" private-sector investment, as she believes "private-sector investment is the lifeblood of a successful economy." Starmer has written to UK regulators, including Ofgem and Ofwat, urging them to propose reforms to foster economic growth. The letter emphasizes collaboration to create a "pro-growth and pro-investment" regulatory environment while respecting the independence of these bodies.
Immigration Starmer's position on immigration has changed over time. In his maiden speech in Parliament in 2015, Starmer challenged proposals to replace the Human Rights Act with a new "British Bill of Rights", telling the Commons: "As we now celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, let us affirm the principle that human rights apply to everyone equally. Any proposed British Bill of Rights inconsistent with that principle will not be worth the paper it is written on and will face widespread opposition, not least from me on behalf of my constituents in
Holborn and St Pancras." In the
2020 Labour Party leadership election, Starmer pledged to campaign for the return of free movement with the EU after Brexit, stating: "We need to make the wider case on immigration. We welcome migrants, we don't scapegoat them. Low wages, poor housing, poor public services, are not the fault of people who come here: they're political failure. So we have to make the case for the benefits of migration, for the benefits of free movement. I want people in this country to be able to go and work abroad, in Europe; and I want people in Europe to be able to come and work here. I want families to be able to live together – whether that's in Europe, or here." He also demanded "full voting rights for EU nationals" and called for an immigration system "based on compassion and dignity" and an end to "indefinite detention", along with the closure of migrant removal centres such as
Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre. He would ultimately scrap the EU voting pledge four years later. Starmer also tried to block plans to deport dozens of foreign criminals to Jamaica; in government he would announce a plan to curb judges' powers to block deportations. At the Labour Party Conference in September 2022, Starmer claimed to have made the case that taking back control of Britain's borders was a "Labour argument", saying: "I will make work pay for the people who create this country's wealth. I will make sure we buy, make and sell more in Britain. I will revitalise public services and control immigration using a points-based system. I will spread power and opportunity to all our communities. And I will never be shy to use the power of government to help working people succeed." He also warned that the UK faced backlogs at its borders. In November 2022, Starmer called for an end to "the days when low pay and cheap labour are part of the British way on growth", stating "Our common goal must be to help the British economy off its immigration dependency to start investing more in training workers who are already here. Migration is part of our national story – always has been, always will be and the Labour Party will never diminish the contribution it makes to our economy, to public services, to your businesses and our communities. But let me tell you – the days when low pay and cheap labour are part of the British way on growth must end. This isn't about Brexit. All around the world, business is waking up to the fact we live in a new era for labour." In September 2023, Starmer pledged to be "ruthless" with his plans to fix the English Channel migrant crossings, referencing
his record as director of public prosecutions when he said he "delivered" on attempts to protect the British public from dangerous criminals, stating: "My Labour government will be ruthless in our plan to smash criminal smuggling gangs and secure our borders. As director of public prosecutions, I went after dangerous criminals to protect the British public. And I delivered. I'll do it again." The pledge to "smash the gangs" became a hallmark of Labour's 2024 general election campaign, although a crackdown on immigration did not feature in the party's five core "missions". In June 2024, Starmer pledged to reduce record high
legal immigration to the UK, saying, "Read my lips – I will bring immigration numbers down. If you trust me with the keys to No 10, I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first." Starmer aims to reduce net migration by improving training and skills for British workers and establishing
Skills England. The Border Security Command was first proposed in a speech by Starmer in May 2024. The party planned to create a new border security command if it entered government. The command would be responsible for tackling the ongoing crisis of
illegal migrant crossings on the
English Channel by coordinating the activities of government agencies such as
MI5 in prosecuting
people smuggling gangs which facilitate
illegal immigration to the United Kingdom. The command was proposed as Labour's alternative to the
Rwanda asylum plan of the
Conservative government, which the party claimed would fail to tackle the migrant crossings across the Channel and criticised as a waste of money. The command was further detailed in
Change, the Labour Party's manifesto for the 2024 general election, as one of its main manifesto commitments. In the manifesto, the party pledged to establish the command with
counter-terrorism powers to enable it to prosecute people smugglers should it enter government. It would be funded by ending the Rwanda asylum plan and reallocating the money pledged for the plan to the command, which the party said would enable it to "pursue, disrupt and arrest those responsible for the vile trade". Starmer said he wanted to raise around £75 million from the defunct plan each year to fund the command. Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election and the formation of the Starmer ministry on 5 July, the new Labour government scrapped the Rwanda asylum plan on the day it entered office. On 7 July, the new
home secretary Yvette Cooper launched the Border Security Command (BSC) to replace the plan, accompanied by an
audit into the money already granted to the
Rwandan government through the plan to see if the UK government could take it back, as well as new counter-terrorism legislation which would be drawn up in the coming weeks to tackle illegal immigration. The command would be funded by money previously earmarked for the Rwanda plan and would be responsible for coordinating the activities of
Immigration Enforcement, MI5, the
Border Force and the
National Crime Agency in tackling smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel. The new office of Border Security Commander was also established, whose remit would be to lead the new command and its members, with the government expecting the appointment of the first officeholder to be made in the coming weeks. A team in the
Home Office was tasked with setting out the remit of the command, as well as its governance structure and its strategic direction. In May 2025, following
Reform UK's electoral success at the local elections, Starmer gave a press conference where he promised a significant fall in net migration by the end of the parliament and unveiled plans to curb judges' powers to block deportations under the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Starmer promised to reduce the number of migrants coming to the UK "significantly", stating: "Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That is a promise." Starmer refused to commit to an annual cap or target as he argued such an approach would not be "sensible". Asked to give voters more than just a promise, he said: "We do want to significantly reduce migration. I am absolutely making clear that is what it will do and that if we need to go further, we will." He also cast doubt on any threat from Reform's electoral success, claiming: "I know on a day like today, people who like politics will try to make this all about politics, about this or that strategy, targeting these voters, responding to that party. No. I am doing this because it is right, because it is fair and because it is what I believe in." Starmer's line "we risk becoming an island of strangers" when discussing tighter immigration controls was criticised by media outlets as echoing
Enoch Powell's "strangers in their own country" line from his "
rivers of blood" speech. He was also criticised for using the phrase "
take back control" five times, which had been used as
Vote Leave's slogan during the
2016 European Union membership referendum. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused Starmer of being "insincere" and warned he was "playing catch up" on the issue of immigration, stating "I was using take back control in 2004. Keir Starmer has spent his whole career campaigning for free movement of people wholly unconcerned about this subject, so much so that their massive parliamentary majority was gained without immigration even being one of their five main priorities. Now, of course, he knows that amongst the great British public, this issue rates even higher than the health service. And he's just basically playing catch up with Reform."
Education , September 2024 Starmer vowed in 2021 and 2022 to strip independent schools of their
VAT-exempt charitable status, a move opposed by the
Independent Schools Council. During the 2020 Labour leadership election, Starmer pledged to scrap
university tuition fees; he dropped this pledge in May 2023, citing a "different financial situation" following
Liz Truss' premiership. Starmer instead said that he aimed to reform the tuition fee system, which he said was unfair to both students and universities. He is supportive of
faith schools, and said he would not change policy on faith schools. He has ruled out extending free school meals to all primary school pupils in England, instead pledging to extend
breakfast clubs including free breakfasts for every primary school in England.
Public ownership over national infrastructure Starmer's position on public ownership over national infrastructure has changed over time. In the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, Starmer ran on a pledge to renationalise rail, mail, water, and energy back into common ownership; he dropped this pledge in July 2022 and said he would take a "pragmatic approach" to public ownership. As of September 2023, he remained committed to
renationalising the railways and local bus services, the creation of a publicly owned energy company, and stricter regulation of water companies. Starmer favours partnership between government and business, having said: "A political party without a clear plan for making sure businesses are successful and growing ... which doesn't want them to do well and make a profit ... has no hope of being a successful government."
Child poverty Starmer and Reeves refused to scrap the
benefit cap introduced by the
Cameron–Clegg coalition, citing financial reasons. The cap was introduced in 2013 as part of the coalition government's wide-reaching welfare reform agenda which included the introduction of
Universal Credit and reforms of housing benefit and disability benefits. Starmer's government cited wide public support for the measure, despite it being highly controversial. By 2024, the year Starmer and Reeves entered government, two-thirds of the families affected by the cap were single-parent families, half of which had a child under five. Starmer launched a Child Poverty Taskforce, in which expert officials from across government would work together on how best to support more than four-million children living in poverty.
LGBTQ+ and transgender rights with
Anneliese Dodds and
Angela Rayner in 2022 Starmer supports some
LGBTQ+ rights, including strengthening protections against hate crimes targeting members of the
LGBTQ community, and "modernizing" the "intrusive and outdated" gender recognition framework, and a proposed, "trans-inclusive" ban on
conversion therapy. After taking office, the Labour Party announced a fully trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban as part of the King's Speech. However, "no solid plans have emerged" as of May 2025. Instead, while initially indicating support for
transgender rights in 2022, Starmer has since indicated that the definition of a woman only includes "biological women". In 2021, Starmer criticised
Rosie Duffield, then a Labour candidate, for saying that only women have a cervix, stating that her comments were "something that shouldn't be said. It is not right." When asked in 2024 whether he would apologise to Duffield, Starmer said: "I think it's very important, in all political space, that we treat all views with respect and all people with dignity and that's what I tried to do throughout this. I'm very proud of the progress that we've made as a Labour party in government in the past when it comes to women's rights. I'm conscious that the battle for women's rights is never over. We need to make further progress in this country." In March 2022, Starmer stated "trans women are women" in his personal opinion at the time and according to British law. His comments were criticised by author
J. K. Rowling, whose outspoken
gender-critical views are often described as transphobic or anti-trans. Rowling accused Starmer of misrepresenting the law and said "the Labour Party can no longer be counted on to defend women's rights". In February 2024, in response to Starmer's alleged backtracking on "
defining a woman" at
Prime Minister's Questions, then prime minister
Rishi Sunak said that "in fairness, that was only 99% of a U-turn", referring to previous comments made by Starmer that "99.9% of women" do not have a penis. This comment was made on the same day that the mother of
murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was present at the Commons. Starmer responded by criticising Sunak for including such remarks whilst Ghey's mother was "in this chamber". The comment was criticised by LGBT groups including
Stonewall and relatives of Ghey. In response to Ghey's father's request for an apology, Sunak said it was Starmer's linking the comments to the murder that was "the worst of politics". Esther Ghey, who was not in the public gallery to hear Sunak's remark, later declined requests for comment, stating she was concentrating on "creating a lasting legacy" for her daughter. Both Sunak and Starmer faced criticism over the exchange. Sunak's response was described by some media outlets as a joke and was criticised by opposition MPs and some Conservatives. Starmer's response was criticised by then minister for women and equalities,
Kemi Badenoch, who said it showed Labour were "happy to weaponise" Ghey's murder. In a 22 June 2024 statement ahead of the 2024 general election, Starmer responded to a question by Rowling asking whether transgender women with a
gender recognition certificate have the right to use women-only spaces. Starmer replied: "No. They don't have that right. They shouldn't". Rowling subsequently expressed a "poor opinion" of Starmer's character, claiming he was "dismissive and often offensive" towards women's concerns about sex-based rights. She stated she would struggle to vote for Labour "as long as [it] remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain [their] rights". Starmer responded by saying: "I do respect her, but I would point out the long record that Labour has in government of passing really important legislation which has advanced the rights of women and made a material difference. That fight is never over. Those challenges are never over. We need to make further progress when it comes to women's rights." On transgender rights, Starmer said his Labour government would seek a "reset moment where we can bring the country together and ensure that all debate is done in a respectful way". During a
Question Time debate in June 2024, Starmer agreed with former Labour prime minister
Tony Blair, who said that "biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis". He also stated that the party would implement the recommendations of the
Cass Review "in full"; Starmer also ruled out allowing transgender people to self-ID. He said he would continue the block on the
Gender Recognition Reform Bill in Scotland, which had originally been blocked in 2023 during Sunak's premiership. On 22 April 2025, Starmer issued a statement through a spokesperson indicating that he no longer believed transgender women could be considered women. The statement specified that his views were in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling
For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, issued on 16 April, which unanimously ruled that the definition of women in the Equality Act 2010 constituted only "biological women". Starmer stated: "A woman is an adult female, and the court has made that absolutely clear", adding: "I actually welcome the judgment because I think it gives real clarity". A government spokesperson stated the ruling had brought "clarity and confidence" for women and service providers, adding that "single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government". Labour minister for women and equalities
Bridget Phillipson said transgender women should use male facilities, listing toilets, hospitals, shelters and rape crisis centres as examples.
LGBT+ Labour expressed being "deeply disappointed" by the judgement, stating it "risks undermining trans people's access to vital services, workplaces, and spaces where they have long been included" at a time when transgender people are "already facing rising levels of hate crime, hostility, and misinformation". The organisation stated it stands "in full solidarity" with the trans community. Opposition leader Badenoch criticised Starmer's response, describing the judgment as a "victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious", and declaring that "the era of Keir Starmer telling us women can have penises has come to an end". In September 2025, Starmer appointed
Tim Allan, a trustee of anti-trans rights lobbying group
Sex Matters, as the government's executive director of communications, prompting protest from LGBT rights groups
Stonewall and the
Good Law Project. Since Starmer took over as leader, transgender support for the Labour Party has fallen to record lows, with some polling suggesting 91% of transgender people distrust Labour.
Violence against women and girls meeting to discuss
the violent disorder across the country, 6 August 2024 In the wake of the
Murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021, Starmer called for longer sentences for rape and sexual violence. Starmer said he wants crime reduced, maintaining that "too many people do not feel safe in their streets". He has pledged to halve the rates of violence against women and girls, halve the rates of serious violent crime, halve the incidents of knife crime, and increase confidence in the criminal justice system. He also committed to creating a 'Charging Commission' which would be "tasked with coming up with reforms to reverse the decline in the number of offences being solved". Additionally, he committed to placing specialist domestic violence workers in the control rooms of every police force responding to 999 calls to support victims of abuse. Starmer said the New Labour government was right to be "
tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". Following the
2024 Southport stabbing in which Axel Rudakubana killed three children and injured ten others – eight of whom were children at a
Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop, Starmer described the murders as horrendous and shocking and thanked emergency services for their swift response. Amid
the riots across the country following the stabbing, Starmer wrote that those who had "hijacked the vigil for the victims" had "insulted the community as it grieves" and that rioters would feel the full force of the law. On 1 August, following a meeting with senior police officers, Starmer announced the establishment of a national violent disorder programme to facilitate greater cooperation between police forces when dealing with violent disorder. On 4 August, Starmer said that rioters "will feel the full force of the law" and told them: "You will regret taking part in this, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves". He added: "I won't shy away from calling it what it is – far-right thuggery". Starmer later called an emergency response meeting of
Cobra. After the Cobra meeting, he announced the establishment of a "standing army" of specialist police officers to address the violence and help bring it to an end. After Starmer said "large social media companies and those who run them" were contributing to the disorder, the American businessman and political figure
Elon Musk, the owner of
Twitter, criticised him for not condemning all participants in the riots and only blaming the
far-right. Musk also responded to a tweet which said the riots were due to "mass migration and open borders" by tweeting "Civil war is inevitable". His comments were condemned by Starmer's official spokesman. Musk further said Starmer was responsible for a "two-tier" policing system which did not protect all communities in the United Kingdom After Rudakubana's guilty plea on 20 January 2025, Cooper announced a
public inquiry, stating that the victims' families "needed answers about what had happened leading up to the attack". This was followed by Starmer's promise to overhaul terrorism laws to reflect the type of non-ideological killings characterised by individuals like Rudakubana, stressing the threat from "acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake". Significant attention was drawn to Prevent for failing to accept referrals of Rudakubana on the basis of him lacking a terrorist ideology. Although an emergency review found that Prevent had followed correct procedures on each referral, Cooper concluded "that too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology" in the programme. Cooper announced that there would be a review on the threshold at which Prevent intervenes, with senior lawyer
David Anderson being assigned by Starmer as the Independent Prevent Commissioner to perform the review. In response to Badenoch criticising the government for not launching a public inquiry into
historic child abuse by grooming gangs and Musk suggesting that the prime minister was complicit in
child sexual exploitation, Starmer said the Conservatives had failed to implement the recommendations of the 2022
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). Starmer stated that under his leadership, the CPS had "the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record". He accused politicians and activists of "spreading lies and misinformation" over grooming gangs to appeal to the far-right. In a detailed response, he said: "When politicians, and I mean politicians, who sat in government for many years are casual about honesty, decency, truth and the rule of law, calling for inquiries because they want to jump on a bandwagon of the far-right, then that affects politics because a robust debate can only be based on the true facts." He continued: "My fight to change the way that the prosecution service operated is a matter of public record. Making sure the men responsible for these despicable acts were brought to justice. Put in the dock... then behind bars. That is why I brought the first prosecution for a grooming gang. Far-right voices have tried to rewrite history. Those spreading lies and misinformation are not interested in the victims. Those cheerleading for
Tommy Robinson - a thug who was jailed for almost collapsing a grooming case - are not interested in justice. They are only interested in themselves." BBC Verify stated there was no evidence Starmer was involved in decisions not to prosecute in Oldham. Then Home Secretary
Yvette Cooper announced a government-backed Oldham inquiry and a nationwide review of evidence on 16 January 2025. Amid the scandal surrounding
Peter Mandelson's relationship with sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, Starmer has faced significant political pressure regarding the scandal, particularly concerning his initial appointment and later sacking of Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US. Starmer's response has included publicly expressing anger, stating that he would not have made the appointment had he known the full extent of Mandelson's ties to Epstein, and acknowledging flaws in the vetting process. On Wednesday, September 10, 2025, during Prime Minister's Questions, Starmer publicly defended Mandelson, stating "Let me start by saying that the victims of Epstein are at the forefront of our minds. He was a despicable criminal who committed the most heinous crimes and destroyed the lives of so many women and girls. The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with Epstein, and he is right to do so. I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship." Starmer sacked Mandelson the next day, September 11, after emails emerged showing Mandelson encouraged Epstein to "fight for early release" from jail in 2008. Starmer described Mandelson's comments as "reprehensible" and said they contradicted his government's stance on violence against women and girls. A source close to Starmer revealed that the prime minister is "frustrated and a bit angry" at the scandal, because he is having to deal with the conduct of others, rather than show what he is trying to do." In his first interview since Mandelson was dismissed, Starmer said: “I don’t particularly think anger helps here, but I feel let down. I feel that the process was gone through and now information has come to light which had I known it at the time, I wouldn’t have appointed him.” In a February 2026 statement at Prime Minister's Questions following subsequent revelations about Mandelson in the
Epstein files, Starmer addressed the fallout from revealed links between Mandelson and Epstein, focusing on accountability and the protection of public standards. He began by expressing solidarity with Epstein's victims and those affected by the 2008 financial crash, acknowledging their trauma and anger. Starmer accused Mandelson of repeatedly lying to his team during the vetting process for his appointment as US ambassador, specifically misrepresenting the nature of his relationship with Epstein. He characterised Mandelson's alleged actions—including leaking sensitive information during the 2008 financial crisis—as a betrayal of the country, Parliament, and the Labour Party. Regarding legal consequences, Starmer confirmed that material had been referred to the police, resulting in an active criminal investigation into potential misconduct. He also announced plans to draft legislation to strip Mandelson of his title and to establish broader powers for removing disgraced peers from the House of Lords. Finally, he stated he reached an agreement with
King Charles III to remove Mandelson from the Privy Council for bringing the body into disrepute. Starmer explicitly expressed regret for the appointment, stating that Mandelson would never have been considered for the role had the full extent of his ties to Epstein been known at the time.
Other types of crime In August 2023, former neonatal nurse
Lucy Letby was convicted of murders and attempted murders of babies between 2015 and 2016, and opted not to attend the
sentencing hearing and as such heard neither the various
victim impact statements which were read out, nor her sentence being passed. In response, Starmer called for the need for a statutory inquiry. It was later announced by Sunak's government that the inquiry had been upgraded to a statutory inquiry, describing it as the best way forward and meaning that witnesses would be compelled to give evidence. Starmer also supported Sunak's plan to introduce legislation to Parliament that would compel convicted criminals to attend their sentencing hearings, by force if necessary, or face the prospect of more time in prison. This would ultimately occur during Starmer's premiership, after a new clause to the
criminal justice bill was introduced in a 2024 parliamentary debate. Shortly after taking office, Starmer said that there were "too many prisoners", and described the previous government as having acted with "almost beyond recklessness". In order to manage the prison overcrowding, his
Justice Secretary,
Shabana Mahmood, announced the implementation of an early release scheme which allowed for prisoners in England and Wales to be released after serving 40 per cent of their sentences rather than the 50 per cent previously introduced under the last government. Over 1,700 prisoners were released in September, with further releases expected in the following year. One prisoner released early under the scheme was charged with sexual assault relating to an alleged offence against a woman on the same day he was freed. Starmer has defended the releasing of prisoners, and accused the previous government of having "broke the prison system."
Comments on Rishi Sunak at the
2024 State Opening of Parliament A month before the
2023 local elections, several attack ads were produced by Labour targeting Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party's record in government as a whole, focusing on issues such as crime, the economy, and health and social care. One of these ads featured the controversial claim that Sunak did not want child sex abusers to be jailed, which referred to the Conservatives' record on prosecuting child sex abusers. The figures covered the period starting in 2010 - five years before Sunak became an MP and 11 years before he became prime minister - and ending in 2022. Other attack ads accused Sunak of being soft on gun crime and suggesting thieves should not be punished, and another referred to Sunak's wife
Akshata Murty and her previously held non-dom tax status. Labour's decision to target Sunak personally caused upset amongst current and former MPs from a wide range of parties. Starmer responded by backing the message "no matter how squeamish it might make some feel" by saying: "I make no apologies for highlighting the failures of this government. This argument that because they've changed the prime minister five times that somehow the PM doesn't bear responsibility for 13 years of grief for many people I just don't think stacks up."
Comments on Margaret Thatcher In a
Sunday Telegraph article he wrote in December 2023, Starmer praised former Conservative prime minister
Margaret Thatcher for having "sought to drag Britain out of its stupor", saying Thatcher had "set loose our natural entrepreneurialism" during her time as prime minister, and cited Thatcher, as well as Labour prime ministers
Tony Blair and
Clement Attlee as examples of how politicians can effect "meaningful change" by acting "in service of the British people, rather than dictating to them". Starmer defended his remarks on Thatcher by saying: "What I was doing was distinguishing between particularly post-war leaders – those leaders, those prime ministers – who had a driving sense of purpose, ambition, a plan to deliver and those that drifted. ... So I was giving Margaret Thatcher as an example of the sort of leader who had that mission and plan. That's obviously different to saying I agree with everything that she did."
Comments on the Labour Party hustings in Bristol Starmer has described the Labour Party as "deeply patriotic" and credits its most successful leaders and prime ministers, Clement Attlee,
Harold Wilson, and Tony Blair, for policies "rooted in the everyday concerns of working people". In October 2020, following the release of the
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)'s report into antisemitism in the party, Starmer accepted its findings in full and apologised to Jews on behalf of the party. Later that day, Corbyn stated that "the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons". He was later suspended over his response to the report. After having previously resigned from the party in February 2019 citing the handling of antisemitism allegations in the party, former Labour MP
Luciana Berger rejoined in February 2023. Berger accepted an apology from Starmer, adding that the party had "turned a significant corner".
Comments on Kanye West In April 2026, Starmer formally condemned the decision of London’s
Wireless Festival to book rapper
Kanye West as a headliner, citing West's
history of Nazi rants and antisemitic remarks as "incompatible with British values." He has described West’s antisemitic remarks as "abhorrent" and "a poison that must be confronted firmly", aligning with his broader views against antisemitism. Starmer also argued that allowing West to perform would undermine efforts to ensure the Jewish community feels safe and secure in Britain. Furthermore, he publicly stated that West should never have been invited to headline the festival, labeling the organizers' decision as deeply irresponsible. Following a formal review by the Home Office, West was barred from entering the country in April 2026 after officials determined his presence would not be conducive to the public good. This government intervention eventually led to the cancellation of the entire Wireless Festival after major sponsors withdrew their support. In response, West said: "My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music. I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen. I know words aren't enough – I'll have to show change through my actions. If you're open, I'm here".
Assisted dying Starmer is a longtime supporter of the campaign for
assisted dying or doctor-assisted voluntary
euthanasia in the UK. As Director of Public Prosecutions in 2014, he published guidance on when not to prosecute cases where compassion was the sole motivator in assisting a relative to access assisted dying overseas, following the Supreme Court
Martin case. In 2015, he intervened and voted in support of Rob Marris's Private Member's Bill on assisted dying. On 13 March 2024, Starmer pledged to give MPs a vote on assisted suicide if Labour won the 2024 general election, which they did. He phoned pro-assisted suicide campaigner
Esther Rantzen and said to her: "I'm personally in favour of changing the law. I think we need to make time. We will make the commitment. Esther, I can give you that commitment right now... For people who are going through this or are likely to go through it in the next few months or years, this matters hugely and delay just prolongs the agony." Additionally, Starmer noted parliament's future intentions to strengthen NHS care for all needs, "including end-of-life care." He has said that although he does not believe in God, he recognises the power of
faith to bring people together. He also accompanies his family to services at the
Liberal Jewish Synagogue in north London. After
Pope Francis died on 21 April 2025, Starmer praised him as "a Pope for the poor, the downtrodden and the forgotten" and attended his funeral alongside his wife
Victoria.
Other Starmer is a keen footballer, having played for Homerton Academicals, a north London amateur team. He supports the
Premier League football club Arsenal. He opposes a
proposed second Scottish independence referendum. Starmer has become more supportive of the monarchy since entering politics in 2015, paying tribute to
Queen Elizabeth II following
the monarch's death in 2022 by stating: "The Late Queen Elizabeth II was this great country's greatest monarch. She created a special, personal relationship with all of us. A relationship based on service and devotion to our country. Even now, after the mourning period has passed it still feels impossible to imagine a Britain without her. Hardly any of us have ever known anything else. For us, the Late Queen has always been simply the Queen, the only Queen. Above all else, our Queen." Starmer made a statement about the
Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report on 4 September 2024, stating the bereaved relatives and survivors of the
Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 had "been let down so badly" and there must be "full accountability" for the "decades of failure by central government." On numerous occasions, Starmer has criticized the
manosphere ideology of
Andrew Tate, including pledging 88 million pounds to counter toxic masculinity, deprecating Farage's concurrence with Tate, as well as a strategy designed to counter Tate's philosophy via compulsory lessons on relationships and consent. == Foreign affairs ==