PM to visit all four nations of UK – and announces ‘mission delivery boards’ to drive change

Politics

The new prime minister has announced he will be visiting all four nations of the UK from tomorrow.

Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he will travel to Scotland first before heading to Northern Ireland, Wales and back to England.

During a news conference from Downing Street, he also said “mission delivery” boards will be established to deliver on Labour’s priorities, which he would chair.

Sir Keir Starmer said his party’s election victory had given Labour a “clear mandate to govern for all four corners of the United Kingdom”.

He said: “We clearly on Thursday got a mandate from all four nations.

“For the first time in 20 plus years we have a majority in England, in Scotland and in Wales and that is a clear mandate to govern for all four corners of the United Kingdom and therefore I shall set off tomorrow to be in all four nations.”

He said he would meet with first ministers and “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 and to recognise the contributions of all four nations”.

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He added: “I reminded the entire cabinet that we will be judged on actions not on words.”

Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby asked for “one concrete thing” that Labour will deliver in the first 100 days.

Sir Keir said that the mindset of government has already changed – shifting to “country first, party second”.

The PM added: “In relation to the outcome on Thursday, it is a clear mandate – we argued for change, we got that mandate, we got it in all four nations and that is really important for us as well.”

Sir Keir quipped that he isn’t “quite unpacked yet” but will be moving into No 10 soon.

“I’ve got a basic understanding of the rooms I’ve used so far here,” he said smiling.

He held his first cabinet meeting at Downing Street earlier on Saturday – telling his ministers: “Now we get on with our work.”

Next week, Sir Keir will make his debut on the international stage when he travels to Washington DC for the NATO leaders’ summit.

His cabinet will focus on the six first steps set out in the Labour manifesto: delivering economic stability, cutting NHS waiting times, launching a new border security command, creating Great British Energy, cracking down on anti-social behaviour and recruiting 6,500 teachers.

In his first speech as PM on Friday, Sir Keir promised “the work of change begins immediately”.

Labour won a landslide victory – securing 412 seats with the Conservatives getting 121 – the worst result in its history.

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