Keir Starmer said he plans to lead a ‘decade of national renewal’ shortly after failing to tell GB News whether he would lead Labour into the next general election
Keir Starmer has insisted he WILL lead Labour into the next general election, shortly after giving a cryptic answer during a TV interview.
The PM was asked by GB News whether he would still be in charge next time the country goes to the polls and responded: “You’re getting way ahead of me.” But he later pledged that he would carry on, saying he intended to lead “a decade of national renewal.”
He told reporters in Albania, where he is making a historic visit: “Of course I am going to stand at the next election. I’ve always said this is a decade of national renewal that I intend to lead.
“That was part of what we were arguing for at the last election and of course we’ve got a lot more work to do but we’re making huge progress.” Mr Starmer made the initial comment ahead of a meeting with Albanian leader Edi Rama, which saw him pledge to explore setting up controversial “return hubs” overseas.
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These would see failed asylum seekers from safe countries deported – but the Prime Minister refused to say what countries the UK is negotiating with. Mr Rama said Albania would not be included in a British scheme.
After being quizzed about his future Mr Starmer told GB News: “The security that we need, we’re getting on with that. You’ve seen it over the last few days – trade deals with India, with the US, hopefully a trading relationship with the EU, very strong growth figures today reflecting the decisions that we’ve made for interest rate cuts, the actual living wage, waiting lists to come down.”
He was welcomed by Mr Rama as he became the first UK Prime Minister to make an official visit to the Balkan nation. In a major update on the Government’s asylum policy, he said officials were exploring controverisal returns hubs.
Mr Starmer stated: “What now we want to do and are having discussions of, talks of, is return hubs, which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned and we have to make sure they’re returned effectively and we’ll do that, if we can, through return hubs.”
It comes less than a fortnight after a disppointing local election for Labour, which also saw Nigel Farage’s Reform narrowly gain a new MP in Runcorn and Helsby.
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