David Gordon Young, a law student and Labour Party activist attended Keir Starmer’s ‘Measurable Milestones’ speech.

On Thursday 5 December, the Prime Minister gave a rather interesting speech, setting out his ‘Measurable Milestones’ by which the general public could gauge the Government’s successes, and measure the effectiveness of their policy implementation. As the Chair of the Ashford Constituency Labour Party, I was invited to listen to what the PM had to say.

The Milestones (outlined in a document we found placed on our seats) did not include immigration, the economy, and national security as Sir Keir argues that they are the 3 basic pillars that a government should endeavour to provide. They did, however, include the following pledges:

• “Raising living standards in every part of the UK, as we aim to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7.”
• “Ending hospital backlogs to ensure that 92% of patients in England wait no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.”
• “Building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects.”
• “Putting us on track to at least 95% clean power by 2030.”
• “A named officer for every neighbourhood, and 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood roles in England and Wales.”
• “Have 75% of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school.”

The PM also alluded to several actions that would enable the government and civil service to crack on with the job, such as slashing planning regulations (which was followed up with a witty joke about a £100 million bat tunnel delaying HS2).

The speech was given at the famous Pinewood Studios, which the PM acknowledged in a cheeky jibe at the Leader of the Opposition, where movie magic is made. In that spirit, it is my belief that political magic was made on Thursday. The PM has managed a reset, after inheriting a multitude of problems (e.g. the open borders experiment or the famous £22 bn Black Hole in the public finances), and clouded by (small) scandals, Sir Keir has refocused the press attention in order to scrutinise their progress on their manifesto pledges, their missions, and their reforms.