Summer riots showed the cracks in our society

The riots that spread across the country in late July and early August exposed “the cracks in our society after14 years of populism and failure”, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say.

In a Downing Street speech, the prime minister will argue events over the summer “didn’t just betray the sickness, they revealed the cure” adding that the “coming together” of communities afterwards showed “what we stand for”.

Sir Keir will also pledge to do the “hard work” to reverse what he will call “a decade of decline”.

The Conservatives have described the speech as “nothing but performative” and an effort to “distract the public from the promises Starmer made that he never had any intention of keeping”.

The SNP said the previous Tory government had left the country in an “incredible mess” but added that Labour had “refused to stand up to them on some of the most damaging policies” and “must share culpability”.

Sir Keir’s address – starting at 10:00 BST – comes a week before Parliament returns from a shortened summer recess.

The PM is expected to attack the Conservative government’s legacy.

He will say “the business of politics will resume, but it will not be business as usual” and the government will “get a grip” on the problems faced in the UK.

He will warn that “things will get worse” in the UK before they get better as the Labour administration tries to deal with “not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole”.

“Part of that is being honest with people – about the choices we face. And how tough this will be.”

The speech will echo some of the language used by Labour during and after the general election campaign.

Since coming to power in July, Labour has sought to emphasise the challenges it faces in government and blame Tory ministers for failing to address those problems prior to the election.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves accused the Conservatives of leaving a £22bn shortfall in the public finances – something Conservatives fiercely deny.

The government has already announced some cost-cutting measures including scrapping a panned cap on social care payments and withdrawing the winter fuel allowance from 10 million pensioners.

Ms Reeves has also said she thinks some taxes will have to increase in the autumn.

Sir Keir’s speech will also suggest that the riots earlier this month showed “the cracks in our society after 14 years of populism and failure”.

“The riots didn’t just betray the sickness, they revealed the cure, found not in the cynical conflict of populism but in the coming together of a country the morning after” to clear “up their community”.

In an opinion piece for the Times on Monday, the PM wrote about how the very setting of his forthcoming speech, the Downing Street rose garden, may have become a “symbol of the rot at the heart of their government” for members of the public under prior Conservative leadership.

Sir Keir referenced the press conference given by Dominic Cummings, the former aide to Boris Johnson, where he defended his decision to break Covid lockdown rules.

He also wrote of the photographs taken near the rose garden of Mr Johnson and his staff with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard at a time of strict restrictions on social mixing during the Covid pandemic. Boris Johnson said at the time that the photos showed “people at work”.

After the speech, Sir Keir will take questions when he is likely to be asked about accusations of “cronyism” from the Conservatives.

The party has attacked the government for giving a No 10 pass to one Labour donor Lord Alli and appointing another donor, Ian Corfield, to a temporary job in the Treasury.

The PM’s speech on Tuesday will be in front of some 50 members of the public whom he met on the election campaign trail, including small business owners and public servants.

He will promise “no more politics of performance” and to do “the hard work needed to root out 14 years of rot and reverse a decade of decline”.

“We’ll fix the foundations, protecting taxpayers’ money and people’s living standards. We’ll reform our planning system to build the new homes we need,” Sir Keir will say.

Reacting to details of the PM’s speech, Conservative Party chairman Richard Fuller said: “This is nothing but a performative speech to distract the public from the promises Starmer made that he never had any intention of keeping.”

“In fewer than 100 days, the Labour Party has dumped its ambition of public service and become engulfed in sleaze, handed out bumper payouts to its union paymasters with ‘no strings’ attached and laid the groundwork to harm pensioners and tax working people,” the Conservative Party chairman added.

The SNP’s deputy leader Keith Brown said: “Keir Starmer cannot just wipe away the fact that, during the long years of Tory rule, Labour refused to stand up to them on some of the most damaging policies.

“The Labour Party were signed up to the austerity agenda, they backed attacks on the welfare state, and they are refusing to reverse Brexit.”