LONDON: Newly elected UK PM Keir Starmer on Saturday began his first full day in charge declaring himself “restless for change” and pledging that growth would be his Labour government’s “number one mission”.
Starmer also confirmed his previously declared intention to end the outgoing Conservative government‘s flagship scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda.
“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started…I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” he told reporters following his first cabinet meeting. The party on Friday won a landslide election victory, bringing to a close 14 years of Conservative rule.
Starmer made the announcement after holding his first Cabinet meeting, the day after his Labour Party’s landslide victory overturned 14 years of Conservative rule. The Rwanda plan was one of the showcase policies of former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to try to curb migrants from making dangerous English Channel crossings.
But it was beset with challenges over human rights issues and never managed to deport a single person despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a pact with the east African nation.
Starmer, at the Cabinet meeting, created “Mission Delivery Boards” for his ministers, including British Indian culture secretary Lisa Nandy, to drive through the “change” he said the public had voted for in the general election. The newly-elected leader addressed his first televised press conference as Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street right after the meeting to update the country on how he intends to meet the targets he has set for the new Labour Party government, including fixing a “broken” National Health Service (NHS).
Starmer spent his first hours in Downing Street on Friday appointing his ministerial team, hours after securing his centre-left party’s return to power with a whopping 174-seat majority in the UK parliament.
World leaders lined up to congratulate the new British premier. Starmer spoke by telephone with US President Joe Biden and “discussed their shared commitment to the special relationship between the UK and US”, according to London.
However, former US president Donald Trump ignored Starmer, instead hailing the electoral breakthrough of his ally Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party. afp, pti
Starmer also confirmed his previously declared intention to end the outgoing Conservative government‘s flagship scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda.
“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started…I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” he told reporters following his first cabinet meeting. The party on Friday won a landslide election victory, bringing to a close 14 years of Conservative rule.
Starmer made the announcement after holding his first Cabinet meeting, the day after his Labour Party’s landslide victory overturned 14 years of Conservative rule. The Rwanda plan was one of the showcase policies of former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to try to curb migrants from making dangerous English Channel crossings.
But it was beset with challenges over human rights issues and never managed to deport a single person despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a pact with the east African nation.
Starmer, at the Cabinet meeting, created “Mission Delivery Boards” for his ministers, including British Indian culture secretary Lisa Nandy, to drive through the “change” he said the public had voted for in the general election. The newly-elected leader addressed his first televised press conference as Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street right after the meeting to update the country on how he intends to meet the targets he has set for the new Labour Party government, including fixing a “broken” National Health Service (NHS).
Starmer spent his first hours in Downing Street on Friday appointing his ministerial team, hours after securing his centre-left party’s return to power with a whopping 174-seat majority in the UK parliament.
World leaders lined up to congratulate the new British premier. Starmer spoke by telephone with US President Joe Biden and “discussed their shared commitment to the special relationship between the UK and US”, according to London.
However, former US president Donald Trump ignored Starmer, instead hailing the electoral breakthrough of his ally Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party. afp, pti