'Restless for change': Starmer lays down his ambitious agenda in his first Cabinet meeting

The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, laid down his ambitious agenda to his brand new Cabinet in the first meeting of the government after coming to power. Earlier this week, the UK woke up to a new government with Starmer at the helm of it all.

During the meeting, the British premier emphasised to his cabinet the need to bring reform to the country’s creaking public services and reset damaged relations abroad, The Guardian reported. In the meeting conducted 48 hours after the Labour Party saw a landslide victory in the snap elections, Starmer told his ministers that he was “restless for change” and determined to deliver on his campaign pledges.

He also stressed the importance of each ministry in delivering the party’s pledge. “I had the opportunity to set out to my cabinet precisely what I expect of them in terms of standards, delivery and the trust that the country has put in them,” he said while addressing his team in the first cabinet meeting.

Country first, party second.

I held my first Cabinet meeting this morning. My government is ready to serve the people of Britain. pic.twitter.com/hoktYD5Yo8

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 6, 2024

‘Self-interest in yesterday’s politics’: Starmer to his ministers

In the meeting, Starmer made it clear that under his leadership, politics would be returned to a duty of service, in contrast to the last 14 years of Tory rule. “Self-interest is yesterday’s politics,” he said. Shortly after the meeting, the Labour Starwalt attended his first press conference as the prime minister.

While addressing the media, Starmer made it clear that his party would not waste any time to commence the task of national renewal. He mentioned that work to realise Labour’s pledge of 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week “starts straight away”.

Defending his plan, Starmer took examples of how St Thomas’ Hospital in central London and other hospitals across the country, including Leeds had already increased appointments “of their own volition”. “We’ve talked through with them how they did it … they will go across the country to be deployed to help set up the model in other hospitals as quickly as we can,” he said.

“So I can’t say by day X it will happen, but we’ve already had quite some discussions about how that will be rolled out from day one," he added. During the presser, the British prime minister also emphasised that actions were needed urgently to address the issue of overcrowded prisons in the country.

“We’ve got too many prisoners, not enough prisons. That’s a monumental failure of the last government, on any basic view of government, to get to a situation where you haven’t got enough prison places for prisoners – doesn’t matter what your political stripe, that is a failure of government," he asserted. Hence, it will be interesting to see how the Labour administration will navigate through these challenges.

With inputs from agencies.