By Becky Morton & Laura Kuenssberg
BBC News
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say whether a Labour government would spend more money on public services.
The Labour leader told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg his party would always invest in public services but to do this it needed to grow the economy.
“That has to start with responsible economics and it has to be coupled with reform,” he added.
Some, including Labour’s biggest union backer Unite, have called for the party to be more ambitious in its pledges.
However, Sir Keir insisted his promise to reform public services was bold.
He told the BBC he did not just want to offer “sticking plaster” solutions.
“If our horizon and focus is only on the immediate problems, we will never fix the fundamentals,” he said, adding that the NHS was “a classic example”.
He also gave the example of building more homes, which he said could be achieved not by spending taxpayers money but by reforming the planning system and restoring housebuilding targets.
Asked repeatedly if he believed public services needed more money and if a Labour government would offer this, Sir Keir would only say: “A Labour government will always want to invest in its public services.”
Sir Keir’s message to his party was that he would not promise to spend lots of money ahead of the next general election, which is due next year.
For political reasons, he wants to head off any attacks from the Tories and for economic reasons, he and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves think it would be the wrong thing to do.
That is a hard message for many in his party to hear, and likely, many members of the public too, who want answers to the problems they face right now.
As the election approaches, the pressure on Sir Keir to make expensive promises is only going to grow and the party is trying to manage expectations of how much they would actually be able to do if they win power.
Earlier this year Sir Keir said there were “good Labour things” the party would not be able to do immediately in government because of the economic backdrop.
Now he has spelt out even more clearly that spending huge extra sums would only happen once the economy improves.
The Labour leader also refused to say whether his party would offer junior doctors a higher pay offer to end strike action, saying only that a Labour government would “be around the table negotiating and we would settle this dispute”.
He added: “This is the government’s problem. They as good as broke our public services, they’ve created a situation in which wages have been stagnant for many, many years and they need to sort out this mess.”
Public sector workers including teachers, police and doctors have been offered pay rises of between 5% and 7%, with junior doctors in England in line for 6%.
Four education unions said the deal would allow them to end their pay disputes and that they would advise members to accept the offer.
However, junior doctors in England have asked for a 35% rise to make up for years of below-inflation increases.
Their latest walkout, which lasts five days, runs until Tuesday.
Starmer: We would negotiate and settle pay dispute
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the pay offer is “final” and a “fair deal” for workers and taxpayers, adding that the government was supporting the NHS with record funding.
Sir Keir also confirmed his party would not change the two-child benefit cap, which generally restricts tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in a family.
He had previously supported scrapping the cap before he was Labour leader.
He would not commit to unfreezing housing benefit, saying the party would set out its policy before the election.
Momentum, the left-wing campaign group set up to support Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader, said fixing the “mess” left by the Conservatives “requires real ambition”, “real investment in our decaying infrastructure” and “an end to the scourge of low pay”.
It described the two-child benefit cap as “a heinous policy” and called for it to be scrapped.
Mick Lynch, head of the RMT union, which is not affiliated to Labour, said many people could not “spot the difference” between Labour and the Conservatives.
“He’s got to show that he’s on the side of working people and progressive politics, and I don’t think we’re seeing that,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.
Instead the party says it will ramp up investment over time, reaching £28bn a year after 2027, arguing it needs to be responsible with the public finances.
The Labour leader insisted he still had “a massive agenda when it comes to climate change” and that the party was committed to its aim of generating all electricity without using fossil fuels by 2030.
“It’s the outcome that matters… the funding isn’t the sole issue,” he added.
