Starmer promises to put Britain 'at heart of Europe' and renationalise British steel after election damage
The Prime Minister made two bombshell pledges as part of a reset speech, after last week's local election results spelled disaster for Labour
The government will nationalise British Steel and rebuild the UK’s relationship with Europe, Sir Keir Starmer has announced in his highly anticipated reset speech on Monday.
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The address was made just days after local election results delivered a blow to the Labour government and delivered a damning indictment of public opinion on Sir Keir at the helm.
In his first address since the results, the Prime Minister revealed that he would break with the political status quo, beginning with the nationalisation of the steel industry.
“Steel is the ultimate sovereign capability,” he said. “Strong nations in a world like this need to make steel.”
He went on to announce that legislation would be brought forward this week to provide the government with power to “take full national ownership of British Steel”, which he described as “public ownership in the public interest”.
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This comes a year after the government took over the day-to-day running of the loss-incurring business in Scunthorpe from its Chinese owner. British Steel, which runs the last two remaining blast furnaces in the UK, was bought out of insolvency by Jingye in the early 2020s.
Sir Keir also announced that his Labour Government would be “defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe”.
“The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe" he said.
He went on: "This Labour Government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe, so that we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence.”
Standing “shoulder to shoulder with the countries that most share our interests, our values and our enemies” was the right choice for Britain, he announced in his address.
The Prime Minister also promised to put young people at the centre of his Europe policy, pledging to deliver “an ambitious youth experience scheme to be at the heart of our new arrangement with the EU".
“So that our young people can work and study and live in Europe, a symbol of a stronger relationship and a fairer future with our closest allies," he said. "That is the Labour choice.”