Keir Starmer begins tour of UK nations to ‘reset’ relations

Sir Keir Starmer began a tour of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Sunday, with Britain’s new prime minister promising to “reset” relations between Westminster and the UK’s nations.

Labour won a majority in each of England, Scotland and Wales in this week’s general election, as Starmer secured 411 seats overall in a landslide that propelled his party to power for the first time since 2010.

Starmer’s tour began in Scotland, where the Scottish National party holds power in the devolved Holyrood assembly. After Thursday’s election the SNP holds only nine national seats in the House of Commons, putting a huge dent in its push for independence.

“The change I promised for Scotland starts now, and that’s why I am here for my very first engagement . . . to make good on the commitment I made,” Starmer said at an event in Edinburgh.

Starmer, who was then heading on for talks with SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney, said he wanted “to deliver for Scotland” rather than playing “party politics”.

He said his “very first steps” would be an immediate start of discussions over the Grangemouth refinery, which operator Petroineos plans to close and repurpose into a fuel import terminal, with a loss of 400 jobs.

“This is obviously a source of very great concern to me in terms of what steps we can now take to preserve jobs and ensure the future,” he said.

Other “first steps” included setting up GB Energy, the Scotland-headquartered, state-owned energy company, which formed the centrepiece of Labour’s campaign offering to Scots.

Starmer on Monday will travel to Belfast and Cardiff, both places where regional leaders are similarly grappling with the threat of job losses in manufacturing and industry.

The new prime minister still has many more middle and junior ministerial positions to fill, but on Saturday Starmer surprised many by bringing back a New Labour-era minister, Jacqui Smith, as an education minister. Smith will get a peerage.

The new prime minister also gave an immediate return to government to Douglas Alexander, a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government, who won Lothian East from the SNP. He has been appointed a business minister.

Relations between the UK government at Westminster and devolved administrations were often strained during the previous 14 years of Conservative government.

“People across the United Kingdom are bound by shared beliefs,” Starmer said ahead of the tour. “Fundamental values of respect, service and community which define us as a great nation.

“That begins today with an immediate reset of my government’s approach to working with the first and deputy first ministers because meaningful co-operation centred on respect will be key to delivering change across our United Kingdom.”