What’s next for UK PM? Here’s what Sir Keir Starmer, Labour Party should focus on

The first 100 days in power will be busy for Sir Keir Starmer as he makes good on Labour’s election promises. These are his most pressing commitments.

A major immigration U-turn led by an elite border force. A higher minimum wage. An overhaul of the health system and a nationalised power company to oversee a move to carbon-free power.

The first 100 days in power will be busy for Sir Keir Starmer as he makes good on Labour’s election promises. These are his most pressing commitments.

IMMIGRATION

Migrants aboard of a Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat after being picked up at sea while crossing the English Channel from France. Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP

An shift in national immigration policy is likely to be the first policy out the gate for Labour. Sir Keir has pledged to repeal the Rwanda deportation scheme “on day one”, which would end the threat of deportation to the east African state.

He will also seek to create a Border Security Command, an intelligence and enforcement “elite unit” to work with M15 that prevents illegal immigration and is granted powers under the Counter Terrorism Act.

It would be funded through scrapping in the first year the $A140 million Rwanda scheme, however, the Labour government has not committed to reducing unauthorised migration across the English Channel by any set figure.

ENERGY

The Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm under construction in the North Sea.Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP

The second area where Britons are likely to see progress by Labour will be in energy policy.

Through the election, the party has pledged to create Great British Energy (GBE) within its first hundred days of government. GBE would be a nationalised power company that will oversee the transition to a carbon-free electricity system by 2030.

GBE will also have responsibility for the existing substantial wind farms in Scotland.

FINANCE

Economically, Labour is hoping to stabilise the country through introducing a ‘fiscal lock’, meaning the major tax and spending changes of future governments are scrutinised by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) before they can be legally introduced.

These powers would be handed down to the OBR within the first 100 days.

A Starmer government would also seek to reduce government consultancy spending by establishing an Office for Value for Money that would halve the consultation budget.

Labour’s AUD$16 billion revenue raising measures to fund their policies will include applying VAT to private schools and changing non-dom tax status for the wealthy.

WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Within the first 100 days, the Labour government has pledged to bolster work rights with a higher minimum wage and empowered union groups.

Under a Starmer government, the Low Pay Commission will take on new obligations, namely matching the minimum wage to cost of living, while working with unions and employers to secure further pay rate rises.

While an area of specific change has not been highlighted, the party also signalled it would broaden the areas for industrial action among British unions. In addition, the contractual power of employers will be reduced through preventing zero hour contracts and ‘fire and rehire’ schemes.

EDUCATION

has pledged to get 6500 new teachers in British schools.

Two key measures of long-term government ability will be in the fulfilment of Labour’s education and NHS election promises.

Sir Keir has pledged to get 6500 new teachers in British schools. He intends to finance this through axing the tax break for private schools, which is estimated to provide £1.7 billion for the hiring spree.

HEALTH

Labour hopes to cut NHS wait times that have spiralled under successive Tory governments. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP

Sir Keir also hopes to cut NHS wait times that have spiralled under successive Tory governments. By introducing 40,000 new appointment times a week, it is hoped the NHS can work through the back catalogue of cases waiting for treatment.

It intends to fund these appointments through a crackdown on tax avoidance. Both Labour and the Tories have floated a tax avoidance crackdown as a means of funding policy promises, Labour has projected £5 billion ($A9.51 billion) in additional earnings from the measure.

Labour’s messaging has been weaker in regards to defence, foreign affairs and agriculture, often having to peel back towards the centre from previous policy positions under Jeremy Corbyn.

FOREIGN POLICY

There are few partisan lines between Labour and Tories in regards to Israel and Ukraine. But the first foreign affairs stumbling block may come following the election of a second Trump Administration.

The former US President’s distaste for alliances like NATO and AUKUS and affinity towards traditional opponents of the West could force a Labour government to shore up support against Russia and China in the EU and abroad.

MILITARY

Military vehicles being loaded for NATO exercises in Europe. Picture: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

Sir Keir has pledged to raise defence spending from 2.1 to 2.5 per cent and hold to the AUKUS agreement. He has been a proponent for nuclear submarines through his campaign, dividing him from former party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the progressive end of his party.

Critically for Starmer, this means standing by the UK’s nuclear deterrence and continuing to mobilise submarines with nuclear capabilities.

SMOKING

Sir Keir had supported Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s call for a smoking ban in the past. It did not pass through parliament before the early election was called, but a Starmer government is likely to pass it through the house largely unchanged. The ban is designed to create a “smoke-free generation” with each year the legal age for cigarette sales, currently at 18, to rise by one year.

AGRICULTURE

The UK’s farmers have been described as “politically homeless” by the president of Country Land and Business Association coming into the 2024 election, and a Starmer government would need to deliver concrete policy to keep new-found regional electorates on-side.

To meet this, Labour has previously pledged to improve post-Brexit EU trade, and combat rural crime and mental health crises.

Originally published as What’s next for UK PM? Here’s what Sir Keir Starmer, Labour Party should focus on