Keir Starmer cites Worthing visit at Labour conference

The Labour leader addressed delegates at the conference in Liverpool to outline some of his plans if the party wins power at the next general election.

The conference will likely be the party’s last before voters go to the polls sometime next year.

In his speech, he recalled how, after he returned to work after a visit to the Lake District, he met people at a cafe in Worthing in late August.

Sir Keir said: “What one woman said really stuck in my mind. She was a single mum with two kids and she said to me ‘It’s survival mode, I can’t think of doing something nice. There’s no long-term planning, no thinking about the future.’

“I could see the hurt in her eyes as she told me.

“That’s what this cost of living crisis does; it intrudes on the little things we love, whittles away at our joy - days out, meals out, holidays - the first things that people cut back on.

“Picking up a treat in the supermarket just to put it back on the shelf.

“We have to be a government that takes care of the big decisions, so working people have the freedom to enjoy what they love.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer met with residents and business owners in Worthing over the summer (Image: The Argus)

In his visit to Worthing, the Labour leader spoke to a group of residents, business people and students about the cost of living crisis.

The town is among several key targets for Labour at the next general election, with the party hopeful of ousting Worthing’s two Conservative MPs, Tim Loughton and Sir Peter Bottomley.

Sir Keir’s speech was interrupted at the start by a protester who threw glitter over him.

The protester shouted: “True democracy is citizen-led. Politics needs an update. We demand a people’s House. We are in crisis.”

The Labour leader continued with his speech after removing his glitter-covered jacket and said: “Protest or power, that is why we changed our party.”

In his speech, Sir Keir unveiled plans to “build the next generation of Labour new towns”, with a pledge to build 1.5 million new homes across the country.

The pledge will be similar to the new towns built after the Second World War under then-Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee, which include the town of Crawley.

"Sometimes the old Labour ideas are right for new times," Sir Keir said.

The Labour leader committed to protecting the environment and the green belt and said new developments would ensure new energy and transport infrastructure, schools and doctors' surgeries are "hardwired into plans".