LABOUR leader Keir Starmer said on Sunday (8) his party's "single defining mission" if elected to govern would be to spur economic growth, expressing confidence he could partner with business to achieve that "very quickly".
At the beginning of his opposition party's annual conference in Liverpool, probably the last before the next national election, Starmer said his reshaping of Labour was "bang on schedule" and the party was ready to take power.
With a healthy lead over the governing Tories before an election expected next year, Starmer said he would use the conference to "set out his stall", offering voters a series of policies that would spur growth.
But the 61-year-old is under pressure to break his fiscally cautious approach to policy, with the head of Labour's biggest donors, the Unite trade union, calling on Starmer to be bolder and return to the left's traditional values.
"We have to create the conditions for the growth in this country ... I am confident that we will get that growth. It is the single defining mission of an incoming Labour Government," Starmer told the BBC.
He said a Labour government would partner with business by providing investors with the "stability" he said had so lacked under the Conservative government which at its party conference last week called off a high-speed rail project.
"Everything hangs off that," he said, adding only growth could fund the renewal of public services.
"We think that this can happen very quickly, within months of a Labour government coming in, we can turn this around and get the investment that we need."
Growth in Britain has been weak by historical standards, and many households have struggled with the soaring cost of living, but official data last month said the country's performance since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic had been much stronger than thought, with faster growth than Germany or France.
Starmer's decision to partner with big business to spur investment and growth has drawn some criticism.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite trade union, said Labour was "being too timid" with his offer to voters.
"I want Labour to come in and now bat for workers and their communities," she told Sky News. "We've had 13 years of Tories batting for big business and batting for the rich. This is the time for Labour to come in and bat for our side."
(Reuters)
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, in Scunthorpe, northern England, Britain, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Dominic Lipinski
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. (Representational image: iStock)
FBU chief raises concern over rise in racist online posts by union members
THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) and other trade unions are increasingly concerned about a rise in racist and bigoted online comments by their own members and officials, according to Steve Wright, the FBU’s new general secretary, speaking to the Guardian.
Wright said internal inquiries have revealed dozens of cases involving members using racist slurs or stereotypes, often aimed at asylum seekers.
He said similar issues were reported in other unions, prompting a joint campaign to counter false narratives around immigration and race promoted by far-right groups online.
“People with far-right views are becoming more brazen in what they do on social media, and I’ve witnessed it with my own union around disciplinary cases and the rhetoric of some of our own members,” Wright said to the newspaper.
He added, “Some of our members and sometimes our reps have openly made comments which are racist and bigoted. In my time in the fire service, that has gone up.”
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. A formal statement addressing far-right narratives will be launched at the union’s annual conference in Blackpool next month.
Wright cited the influence of social media and figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as factors contributing to these incidents. “It feels like an itch that we’ve got to scratch,” he said.
The FBU barred a former official last year for allegedly endorsing racist content on X, including posts from Britain First and Tommy Robinson.
Wright also warned that the union could strike if the government moves to cut frontline fire services.