The Prime Minister penned an almost 3,000-word-long post published to Substack on Thursday, responding to Sir Tony Blair’s essay.
Sir Keir Starmer has mounted a defence of his Government’s plan for energy security, artificial intelligence and economic growth, after Sir Tony Blair published a 5,700-word essay criticising his approach.
The Prime Minister penned an almost 3,000-word-long post published to Substack on Thursday, responding to the essay.
In it, Sir Keir admitted the Government needed “a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024” on issues such as economic growth, defence, Europe and energy.
“Nonetheless, it will come as no surprise to hear that I do not agree with everything Tony says about Britain or the Government,” Sir Keir continued.
“And to explain why, it is instructive to return to the 2024 context and the despairing commentary about Britain’s perceived decline.
“It was a running theme of the campaign. Britain was in an unbreakable trap, a ‘doom-loop’ so fiendish that escape was utterly inconceivable.”
This “hand-wringing commentary continues unabated – but the facts about Britain have changed dramatically,” the Prime Minister added.
He said the Government was “on track to deliver the fastest reduction in NHS waiting times since the service’s creation in 1948”, had slashed net migration “from a high of nearly one million towards the end of the Tory period of rule to just 171,000 now”, and taken steps to reduce child poverty.
Sir Tony, who led the Labour Party between 1994 and 2007, wrote in his essay that artificial intelligence (AI) “will change everything” with unknown consequences, including for jobs.
He warned that the European approach “weights technology regulation against the technology sector”.
He said: “We can’t argue that technological innovation and adoption is the key challenge of modern governance and tie ourselves to a technology environment essentially hostile to it.”
Responding to this point, Sir Keir said: “Far from being left behind on artificial intelligence, Britain is at the front of the pack.
“This isn’t rhetoric. Britain is widely recognised by the leading lights of that sector as being a growing and sovereign AI player.”
He pointed to investment into datacentres in Loughton, Essex, and Blyth, Northumberland, as evidence of a nationwide investment into tech.
“It is improving our public services, particularly the NHS,” he said.
“And as we build this future, we are taking measures that strengthen our sovereignty; making sure we are an AI rule-maker, not a rule-taker.
“It is our principles in action, once again. Not just passively accepting our economic fate, but actively shaping the future. Taking control. Unlocking the potential of the whole country.”
On energy, Sir Tony urged the Government to “remove those parts of the net-zero agenda which prioritise clean energy over cheaper energy”, including by using North Sea oil and gas resources.
“I recognise that Britain cannot unilaterally tackle climate change on its own,” Sir Keir wrote in his response.
“But we are a leading G7 economy, our voice, our example and our leadership matters.”
Sir Keir said North Sea fossil fuels would continue to contribute to the energy mix but warned “it is also clearly a depleting source that has no discernible impact on the global price of oil and gas”.
He said: “Even with our own resources, we are now a net importer of fossil fuels and that is the single biggest driver of soaring energy bills bar none.
“And so, investing in clean British energy strengthens our agency over those markets.
“It takes control of our bills on behalf of working people.”
On economic growth, Sir Keir said “populism cannot be ‘bought off’ with higher growth and old school redistribution”.
He said: “It is a more profound and subtle crisis – its roots are economic, but it also about dignity and respect.
“Working people and working class communities want an economy that they have a stake in, a state that respects the value they contribute, and a Government that can help them achieve greater control over an increasingly insecure world.
“Any economic plan that does not wrestle with this is on a political hiding to nothing.”
Sir Tony’s essay has drawn criticism from former ministers Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting, who are widely thought to be considering plans to oust Sir Keir.
Writing in the Times on Thursday, Mr Burnham accused Sir Tony of “retro thinking” in his calls for deregulation.
He said the former prime minister’s approach risked blocking Labour “from protecting children by failing to regulate social media, artificial intelligence and big tech”.
Arguing that raising living standards “must be the defining mission of now”, he said Sir Tony’s government had done “many great things” but failed to divert the UK away from “the direction set by (Margaret) Thatcher”.
He said: “This has given us 40 years of neoliberalism and the simple truth is this: it has not been kind to communities in Makerfield and those like them across the UK.”
Mr Streeting this week wrote in the Guardian that the “striking weakness at the heart of Sir Tony Blair’s intervention” is the lack of mention of inequality.
He said: “Across thousands of words about technology, geopolitics and political strategy, the defining issue of our age is barely confronted at all.
“Inequality – the economic, social and democratic fracture running through modern Britain – is treated as peripheral rather than fundamental.”
