Today Opposition Leader Keir Starmer made his first live speech at a Labour Party conference in Brighton. In response Daniel Pryor, Head of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“Keir Starmer’s conference speech marks the end of the Corbynista fire and brimstone era and a return to a Labour Party that wants to be electable. It’s welcome that Labour appears to be returning to an accomodation with the market economy: an acceptance that our prosperity comes from innovation not state dictats. It is particularly welcome that Labour is positioning themselves as the party of lower taxes on workers compared to the Tories — Boris should take note.

But Labour is still a long way from offering a serious policy response to many key issues facing Brits.

The speech was a missed opportunity to outmaneuver the Tories and offer credible solutions to the issues facing young people. There was little real content on addressing the housing crisis, strengthening civil liberties, or drug policy reform. There was also a continued reliance on more spending and more government being the main solution to pressing problems—from climate change to healthcare.”

Notes to editors:

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The Adam Smith Institute is a free market, neoliberal think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.