Keir Starmer has achieved a lot in his first 100 days in office. The PM has a good story to tell, and his revamped communications team must ensure people hear it. Certainly as they will have their work cut out when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces her scary Halloween Budget
There’s no denying Keir Starmer’s first 100 days were a bumpy ride – times when it looked as if the PM was ready for power but not for office. But there’s also no denying he hit the ground running. Damaging strikes were ended and riots stamped out as quickly as they started.
In just three months he has laid the groundwork for GB Energy to lower household bills and a Border Security Command to tackle evil cross-Channel people smugglers. Rail is being nationalised, no fault evictions banned, and a 10-year plan to reform the NHS is in place.
But those considerable achievements were overshadowed by the row over freebies, a misstep further mishandled by mixed messaging. Workers will have day one employment rights as promised, and fire and rehire will be outlawed. Firms such as P&O will no longer be able to sack workers to replace them with cheaper ones.
Ministers were right to criticise that shoddy behaviour, but it came as the PM was nailing down a deal with the parent company to invest £1billion in Britain. Mr Starmer knows that effective government must be pragmatic as well as principled. And it took hard work to get tomorrow’s investment summit back on track.
Departing No10 chief of staff Sue Gray was a shrewd Whitehall operator who could pull the levers of government. But she was not a political animal. Now that Mr Starmer’s has reset the Downing Street machine he can concentrate on the task of delivering his pledges.
Policy and presentation are two sides of the same coin. The PM has a good story to tell, and his revamped communications team must ensure people hear it. They will have their work cut out when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces her scary Halloween Budget.
We’re in for another bumpy ride. The nation needs to know why it will lead to a better Britain.
NHS reform
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is determined to transform the NHS from a sickness service into a prevention service to save lives and money. Which is why he is backing a new home spit test to spot the early genetic signs for prostate cancer.
It will mean that men who discover they are at risk can be monitored and treated from the age of 40 before the disease develops.
Trials suggest the saliva test will be twice as accurate as PSA blood samples which can result in painful and unnecessary biopsies because of too many false positives. And provide a lifeline for many of the 12,000 men killed by this creeping cancer every year.
Solitary confinement
Prisoners can escape loud jail noise at HMP Nottingham by moving to “low-sensory load” cells to do their time quietly. And where the most serious offence is a breach of the peace.
