As the Prime Minister enters the summer, it doesn’t appear as if his to-do list is getting any shorter
Keir Starmer will officially mark one year in 10 Downing Street this summer and after a year leading the country, the Prime Minister’s in-tray hasn’t grown any smaller. So far, the Labour leader has had to deal with lacklustre local election results, including the loss of Runcorn to Farage’s Reform UK, alongside a litany of issues facing the country.
From the war in Ukraine and Trump’s tariffs abroad to prison overcrowding and a slow growing economy at home, Starmer’s priorities have had to regularly change depending on the crisis. However, the country still faces enormous challenges, including a crisis-hit NHS, cash-starved councils and more.
Entering number 10 for the first time as Prime Minister, Starmer will have known the size of the task at hand and after the past year, not many people could argue it has gotten any smaller. So, where would you like the PM to focus his attention in the near future? If you can’t see the poll, click here.
Climate emergency and environment
After experts issued a ‘red alert’ over the climate emergency, the Labour manifesto warned it was the “greatest long-term global challenge that we face”. Starmer has already reintroduced the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. The Labour Party has also and established Great British Energy.
Growing the economy
After warning that Labour would inherit the worst set of financial conditions since the Second World War, Rachel Reeves has delivered both a Budget and a Spring Statement in the past year. During the latter, the Chancellor made sweeping benefit cuts, targeting PIP. Growing the economy was key to Labour’s manifesto during the election.
Local Government funding
Years of Tory austerity left many councils in a state of financial distress, with eight local authorities issuing a section 114 notice – declaring themselves effectively bankrupt – between 2018 and 2024. Birmingham Council, which already hiked its council tax rate by 20%, is now facing bin worker strikes that have seen mountains of rubbish pile up on the side of the road, threatening public health.
Prison overcrowding
Labour inherited a major crisis in the criminal justice system, with victims waiting years for trials and prisons overflowing. The Prime Minister proceeded to release over a thousand prisoners across the UK, who later declared ‘big up Keir Starmer’, leading the Labour leader to expressed anger at prisoners celebrating being let out early from jail, saying: “I don’t want to release any of these people”.
Rescuing the NHS
Facing its most severe pressures since it was founded in 1948, the NHS was a key election issue with bringing waiting lists down top of the agenda during the election. Since then, Starmer has abolished NHS England and recently released data revealed that waiting lists are coming down. However, the issues facing the health service are still enormous challenges still to be tackled.
Small boats crisis
The latest data shows over 9,000 people have reached the UK by small boat – 42% higher than the previous year and pressure is mounting on the PM to start showing results from his targeting of trafficking gangs. With the numbers rising ahead of summer – which usually sees crossings peak – it looks like Keir Starmer could be in for a tricky few months.
Tackling poverty
In recent years, the UK has seen staggering levels of poverty, with previous estimates suggesting around 4.3million children are growing up in poverty and tens of thousands sleeping in temporary accommodation. Labour has attempted to tackle the issue with free breakfast clubs in schools, but have so far dodged calls to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
Ukraine uncertainty
Keir Starmer has placed the UK front and centre of the Ukraine war effort after Trump and JD Vance’s argument with Zelensky in the White House, putting together a ‘coalition of the willing’ – a group of nations prepared to enforce a peace deal. However, it was recently revealed that the PM ‘might abandon his plan to send UK troops to Ukraine as it’s too risky’.
Tensions abroad
Trump’s second term has already wreaked havoc across the world, with the US President’s reciprocal tariff plan almost crashing the economy and forcing stock markets across the world into free fall. Elsewhere, Russia’s threats to the UK are continuing, with the Kremlin recently accusing the UK of being “hysterical” while posting a list of the country’s most hated Brits.
What do you think? What should Keir Starmer’s priority be this summer? Take our poll and have your say in the comments below.