(Bloomberg) -- Keir Starmer will set out targets for fighting crime in Britain, in a major speech Thursday aimed at resetting his premiership after a faltering start in the first five months since Labour won the general election.
Every neighborhood in England and Wales will have a named police officer in charge of local crime problems, and the government will aim to add 13,000 more officers in an effort to reduce crime rates, the prime minister will say.
“My government was elected to deliver change, and today marks the next step,” Starmer is expected to say, according to remarks released by his office. “People are tired of being promised the world, but short-term sticking plaster politics letting them down.”
The focus on crime — not typically home territory for the center-left Labour Party — appears to signal that Starmer is alive to the electoral threat from both the Conservatives and Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform party, especially in the wake of Donald Trump’s US election win and the rise of populist politicians in countries across Europe.
The speech is an attempt by the premier to relaunch his administration after a bumpy first few months that have brought a sharp decline in his poll ratings. The government struggled to shake off allegations of cronyism in the opening weeks after its election win, and Starmer was then forced to make a shock move in ousting his chief aide Sue Gray after weeks of infighting between aides.
The stuttering beginning continued as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered a tax-raising budget at the end of October that unsettled markets and was widely criticized by businesses. Policies removing cold weather payments to pensioners and closing a tax loophole on farmers have also faced steep opposition. Economic growth, the cornerstone of Labour’s election manifesto, has ground to a halt amid the fiscal uncertainty.
The teething problems have not stopped, with Starmer suffering his first cabinet resignation last week when his transport secretary, Louise Haigh, quit over revelations about a past fraud conviction.
In an effort to set a more positive narrative about his government, Starmer will announce a series of targets aimed at demonstrating to the public that he can deliver on what he has called his five missions to bring about “national renewal” after years of political and economic turmoil under the Conservatives.
The speech, titled “Plan for Change,” will set tangible goals on raising living standards, ending hospital backlogs, early years education for children and securing home-grown energy, Starmer’s office said in a statement.
Criminal justice has been an area of focus for the new government, which implemented a controversial early-release program for prisoners after inheriting a prison overcrowding crisis from the previous Tory government.
While headline crime numbers have fallen in recent years, according to the Office for National Statistics, incidences of some crimes, such as snatch theft from the person, are on the rise. An ONS survey found crime to be the fourth biggest issue in the UK, after the cost of living, healthcare and the economy.
The target for 13,000 additional police officers will include so-called community support officers, who have fewer powers than warranted police officers and have to request the support of a fully-fledged officer to carry out arrests.
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