British Prime Minister Keir Starmer kicked off the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool with a bold keynote speech on October 1. He tackled key issues like illegal immigration, education reforms, healthcare improvements, and why his party sees Reform UK as its biggest rival right now.
Starmer didn’t hold back on the UK’s asylum system, calling it something the country “cannot ignore.” He vowed to beef up border security by ending dangerous small boat crossings in the English Channel, targeting illegal work, and deporting people who have no legal right to stay. This push aims to fix a broken immigration setup that’s been a hot topic in UK politics.
Shifting to education, Starmer announced big changes for young people in England. The government will drop the old goal of sending 50% of them to university. Instead, it wants two-thirds to head into either higher education or top-notch apprenticeships—what he called “gold standard” training. To make it happen, Labour plans to pour money into new technical excellence colleges and ramp up skills programs overall, according to reports from Xinhua news agency.
On healthcare, Starmer unveiled “NHS Online,” a fresh digital service rolling out across England by 2027. This tool should help slash long patient waiting lists and make getting care easier for everyone.
In a direct jab at politics, Starmer pointed to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as Labour’s main threat. He challenged their claims of patriotism and rallied party members to unite and take them on. It’s a tough spot for Labour—the party has slipped behind Reform UK in recent opinion polls. A fresh YouGov survey predicts that if an election happened tomorrow, Reform UK could snag 311 seats in the House of Commons, leaving Labour with just 144 out of 650.
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