Keir Starmer to woo voters and MPs with new year plan to cut cost of living | Labour

Keir Starmer will try to salvage his relationship with disillusioned voters and his own disgruntled MPs in a bid to cut the cost of living in the new year.

The Prime Minister will give a speech in the coming days focusing on how his government is reducing the cost of living, highlighting recent cuts to energy bills and interest rates and the end of the two-child benefit limit.

He will boost his message with a series of New Year’s Eve drinks receptions for Labor MPs at Checkers as he hopes to allay concerns about local and devolved elections in 2026, where the party expects heavy losses.

In his New Year’s message, the Prime Minister said voters would start to see their lives improve in 2026, which his chief adviser Morgan McSweeney called the “year of proof”.

Starmer said: “The choices we make in 2026 will mean more people will start to feel positive change in your bills, your communities and your healthcare.

“But even more people will feel a sense of hope once again, a belief that things can and will be better, a sense that the promise of renewal can become a reality, and my government will make that a reality.”

Taking aim at Reform England, which looks set to defeat Labor in elections in Scotland and Wales in May, he said harshly: “We are getting Britain back on track. By staying the course, we will defeat the decline and division that others have suggested.”

He said he believes 2026 could be the year when the fortunes of the country and his party begin to change, adding: “When Britain turns the corner where our future is now in our control, the real Britain will shine more powerfully.”

Starmer enters 2026 least popular prime minister everAccording to some polls, his party is heading for poor results in the May elections and some MPs are agitating for his removal.

Many Labor MPs spent the Christmas break in their home constituencies, where they had to face voter anger over premature policy decisions.

“I’ve spent a little more time in the constituency over the last few weeks and the situation is a lot worse than I thought,” one of them said. “There is a real level of hostility.”

The Prime Minister’s advisers acknowledge the scale of the problem, but believe voters could begin to change their minds this year as the impact of decisions taken in the first 18 months begins to be felt.

Speaking to fellow consultants ahead of Christmas, McSweeney said this would not be a “year of promises” but a “year of evidence” where public services would begin to improve and bills would begin to fall.

Starmer and his ministers will highlight their actions on cost of living in the first few weeks of the new year, including a speech from the prime minister highlighting recent interest rate cuts that have brought mortgage costs to their lowest level since 2022.

He will also talk about removing the two-child benefit cap, a policy the government plans to focus on as it introduces this by introducing a standalone bill to parliament next week.

Meanwhile, energy secretary Ed Miliband is putting the finishing touches to his £13bn warm homes plan, which will detail how the government will spend energy efficiency and low carbon finance.

Officials say the plan will focus on green technology such as solar panels and batteries rather than home insulation, which has been the focus of energy companies’ recently scrapped obligation (Eco).

The plan would eliminate regulations that prevent people from plugging solar panels into home sockets, a technology widely used in Germany and other European countries.

Canceling the Eco scheme and reducing renewable energy taxes would save energy users an average of £138, a study has found. calculation By consultancy Cornwall Insight.

Ministers are keen to show how energy efficiency finances will help reduce bills in the long term, with Miliband framing his package as another cost-of-living measure.

A government source said: “Big emphasis will be placed on our warm homes [plan] “We focus on clean technology products that can reduce energy bills for households in the short and medium term.”

Starmer plans to combine this action with a charm offensive designed to win the support of his own MPs. In a series of events throughout January and February, the Prime Minister invited Labor Party members to receptions at his rural charity home.

Officials say he will use the informal meetings in part to reinforce the message that lawmakers should spend their time talking about the cost of living ahead of the May election. But early indications are that his plans have been met with a mixed reaction among parliamentary colleagues; Many are angry that the first 18 months in power have been painful.

One of them said: “Parliamentary Labor has a wealth of skills and experience that are being ignored. This is a bizarre approach that is weakening us as a government and fueling resentment.”

Another said they would not accept an invitation to join Checkers. “I was invited, but the idea of ​​making small talk and pretending everything is fine is just [being sick emoji].”