6 things UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants to fix in his first month

Relations with nations and regions

The new prime minister has immediately embarked on a tour of Britain’s devolved nations to seek a “reset” of relations with the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Discussing the four-nations tour at his press conference Saturday, Starmer said he wanted not just to meet the first ministers to discuss the challenges they face, but “to establish a way of working across the United Kingdom that will be different and better to the way of working that we’ve had in recent years.”

In Scotland he faces the task of establishing a constructive working relationship with a normally hostile Scottish National Party administration now very much on the back foot after suffering dramatic losses at Labour’s hands in last Thursday’s election, amid ongoing tensions between the two parties over taxes on fossil-fuel companies and transgender rights. 

Starmer’s party may be rejoicing at the total wipeout of all Welsh Conservative MPs in the election, but Labour remains under fierce pressure to address NHS difficulties in Wales. Meanwhile, the Labour first minister, Vaughan Gething, is under a cloud since losing a confidence vote over donations to his leadership campaign.

When Starmer arrives in Belfast he will underline Labour’s intention to scrap the Conservatives’ Legacy Act, which ended all criminal and civil cases connected to Northern Ireland’s 1968-1998 civil conflict and is hated by all parties there. The so-called Irish Sea border — trade barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland created by Boris Johnson’s 2019 Brexit agreement — is likely to be on the agenda as well, with Labour vowing to reduce border friction for businesses.

Starmer will also meet metro mayors across England — all but one of whom are now drawn from the Labour Party — in advance of his plans for greater regional devolution, expected as one of the meatier items to feature in the King’s Speech. But he will face uncomfortable questions over local government finance, with as many as 200 local authorities currently on the verge of going bust.