Keir Starmer will today launch a weekly “Call Keir” listening exercise as he begins the task of winning back the trust of voters.
The new Labour leader had planned to spend his first months in charge travelling to seats the party lost across Britain to convince voters it now offered a credible alternative.
But, while we are still in lockdown, he will tour the country virtually instead, taking questions at town hall-style meetings on Zoom.
His first meeting will take place in key Red Wall seats in Bury and the Tees Valley, that Labour needs to win if it is ever going to form a government, before heading to Scotland next week.
Mr Starmer said the exercise would help Labour to hold Boris Johnson to account.
He said: “For the last three-and-a-half weeks, we have been trying to hear from the front line what’s actually happening... to compare and contrast with what the Government has said is happening.”
He has accused ministers of being too slow in taking all the major decisions on coronavirus.
Mr Starmer said a public inquiry into the Government’s handling of the crisis was “inevitable”.
“At the moment we’re not calling for it because we want to support the Government getting the infection rate below one, which is why we’ve been supportive of them on lockdown, social distancing and increasing the capacity of the NHS.
“The first priority is to get that infection rate down and an inquiry, I think, is inevitable.” Mr Starmer claimed it was possible for Labour to win the next election.
He told the Mirror: “I know it’s difficult. I know it’s a mountain to climb. But four years is time enough for us to do what we need to do.
“We have to show why the future can be different. After three months of coronavirus... we cannot go back to business as usual.
"In particular, we can’t keep standing on our doorstep clapping our key workers at 8pm on a Thursday and then suggest that once we’re through this crisis, things can go back to as they were. Many of those people were underpaid and undervalued for years and years.
“There’s going to have to be some fundamental change.”
And he said the Labour party had to “unite and pull together” after years of factionalism and focus “day in, day out” on winning the next election.
“Nobody underestimates the scale of the task we’ve got, but there is a genuine sense in the Labour movement that we want to rise to this task,” he said
Mr Starmer claimed, under his leadership, Labour could stop the shift of working class voters away from the party becoming permanent.
“We can only do that if we engage with that part of the electorate,” he said. “We will never do that if we are talking to any section of the electorate, we need to listen.”
The Labour leader said he wanted to be “confronted, challenged and to have that sometimes gritty conversation” and for the electorate to feel they could tell him what they think to his face.
He invited Mirror readers to be part of that conversation, offering to hold a “Call Keir” event anywhere they suggested.
On austerity
The Labour leader rejected more austerity to tackle the economic fallout from coronavirus.
“There’s absolutely no way as a country we can afford to make the same mistakes that were made coming out of the financial crash,” he insisted. “We cannot sustain another decade of austerity.
“Everybody knows our public services have been run down. Every-body knows the funding isn’t there for our schools. Everybody knows the NHS isn’t as resilient as it could otherwise have been.”
On infighting
Mr Starmer admitted there had been some sniping from the Left and Corbyn supporters since he took over but insisted the backing of MPs, unions and members had given him a “mandate for change”.
He said: “Quite a lot of those in Momentum firstly supported me in the campaign and continue to support me.”
Winning the leadership contest with 56% of the vote – and among all parts of the electorate – had given him the authority to act, he maintained.
On key workers
NHS and social care staff need pay rises and better conditions he said, stressing the country “can’t go back to business as usual” after the crisis.
Mr Starmer claimed the public was already viewing workers such as shelf stackers and delivery drivers differently. “Making the case we need to value people differently is where the country is. We just need to spell out what that looks like.” But he admitted setting out specific, costed plans would take time.
On patriotism
Mr Starmer said the coronavirus crisis had brought out a sense of national solidarity.
“For the vast majority of people, we’ve never lived through the war or anything like that. We’ve not lived through a time everybody is affected by something, whatever their walk of life and whatever their circumstances.”
The overwhelming majority had also shown a sense of duty by “pulling together” and complying with the lockdown. He said there was “great pride” in what the country was doing.
On lockdown
Like many other families, he and his wife Vicky are juggling jobs with their two young children.
“My wife works in the NHS so she’s a key worker. I’m obviously doing my job as Leader of the Opposition therefore our kids go to school. But I do the pick-up at 3.30 and simply build the diary around that.” He revealed that “has actually been really nice”. But he admitted struggling to make sure homework was done. “It is the same as always – trying to keep one step ahead on the maths and English.”
On Brexit
Mr Starmer has accepted any prospect of staying in the EU was lost when Boris Johnson won his majority.
Instead, he is focusing on getting the best trade deal possible. “The Government says it can do it in the time available, so we need to hold them to that. I have always thought it was going to be a challenge, so I will watch carefully what they’re saying.” He might back an extension of the transition period if faced with the choice between a delay and leaving without a deal.
