Keir Starmer's six steps: Why speech showed Labour's focus on swing voters like business leaders, not core support

Watching Sir Keir Starmer’s event on Thursday morning offered no clarity at all on how the party would govern, with not a single new policy being announced. This came despite speeches from multiple shadow cabinet ministers and almost mandatory attendance for those not speaking.

However, as the Labour leader unveiled six “first steps”, it instead offered insight into how the party will campaign. Sir Keir offered a promise of improvement in several areas, without quite specifying how it would be done.

The pledges were: cutting class sizes to 30 or under for five, six, and seven-year-olds; fast-tracking punishment for young offenders; cutting NHS waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients; getting 250,000 under-25s off benefits using money from a windfall tax on privatised utilities; and a promise not to increase income tax and to cut VAT on heating.

In short, this was a presidential-style event, with full focus on brand Keir Starmer, and very little on the specifics of how his ideas will be implemented or funded.

This approach was a clear pitch to swing voters, with arguments and rhetoric you could imagine hearing from David Cameron’s Government. Gone was Jeremy Corbyn’s language around “for the many, not the few”. Instead there were repeated references to “working people”, rather than just people. There was a focus on economic stability, sticking to spending rules, and, when asked about the two-child benefit cap, not making promises he "can't deliver on". Sir Keir also discussed small boat crossings and expanding counter-terror powers to stop them.

These are not traditional Labour values or vote winners, with strong borders and sound financial management hardly the key issues for those on the left. But what this showed is Labour are confident they’ll get their votes away, despite the clear disillusionment shown during the local council elections.

Sir Keir is instead pitching towards soft Tories, swing voters, and those who have never voted for his party before. This could be seen in the guest speakers, with a series of figures from business making statements, as well as those who had never voted Labour previously. It included Boots chief executive Sebastian James, who was a member of the elite Oxford Bullingdon Club along with Mr Cameron and Boris Johnson.

The style was also notable, with the Labour leader having notes on the autocue, but just bullet points, and looking in the eyes of the audience rather than just the screen. Sir Keir was confident and took plenty of questions from journalists. And with the polling, why wouldn’t he be?

There was nothing here to convince those concerned weren’t left-wing enough, or voters hoping for a more radical approach from the party.

The party is expected to win at the election and win big, not least by parking Labour tanks very much on the Tory lawn. This address was part of that, hinting at a campaign of sensible, pragmatic policies, and one desperate to avoid the mistakes of what came before.