The honeymoon period for Labour is over, it must now start delivering
There was no sugar-coating from the Prime Minister of the challenges that lay ahead for the country and his Government as he said the forthcoming budget would be “painful”.
He delivered the message against the serenity of the Downing Street rose garden. It was clear that Sir Keir Starmer wanted to show a contrast between his leadership and that of previous Tory governments.
The rose garden was where former government adviser Dominic Cummings proffered excuses for his lockdown busting trip to Durham. It was the scene of gatherings between Number 10 staff when ordinary people were not allowed to meet loved ones.
The PM defended the decision to means test the winter fuel allowance, which has attracted a lot of criticism, and claimed his Government had inherited a “societal black hole” made worse by recent rioting.
Sir Keir also pledged to strengthen the powers of the water regulator so that water companies are penalised for allowing sewage to flood the nation’s rivers, lakes and seas.
He isn’t the first PM to sound tough on the water companies but the reality is that the water regulator itself is in need of reform. The current system is simply too porous, enabling firms to get away with polluting the landscape with limited repercussions.
This was billed as the Prime Minister’s first major speech since the day after the general election but there is a growing sense that the public has heard a lot from him about what can and cannot be done.
The question will now become one of when the public can start to expect results. It would be churlish to pepper the PM and his Government with criticism just yet but the honeymoon period is over. Sir Keir has set out his stall and the Government’s work will be judged against those aims and objectives.