Starmer, History Man. On the Work of 1945, 1964, 1997, 2024 & New Towns
Keir Starmer is not known for a particular grasp of history and Labour Party history in particular but his speech at the Labour Conference on Tuesday did reference the key tasks that earlier Labour Governments had set themselves.
Its fair to say that such speeches are produced by a team so Starmer is reading out a script. Even so the 1946 New Towns Act was one of the successes of the Attlee Government in the sense that decent public housing did get built. The Wilson Government in 1965 followed a similar objective with less success. It will be interesting to see how it works out this time if Labour is elected in 2024. Affordable,modern housing can make a lot of difference to people’s lives
What Starmer said on New Towns
If you think our job in 1997 was to rebuild a crumbling public realm. That in 1964 it was to modernise an economy left behind by the pace of technology. In 1945 to build a new Britain out of the trauma of collective sacrifice. Then in 2024 it will have to be all three.
And conference, sometimes the old Labour ideas are right for new times. So where there are good jobs. Where there is good infrastructure. Where there is good land for affordable homes. Then we will get shovels in the ground. Cranes in the sky.
And build the next generation of Labour new towns.
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