Starmer insists surprise taxes won’t be used to fix ‘broken’ NHS and Rwanda plan is ‘dead and buried’ - live

Politics
6 Jul 2024 • 9:57 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

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As Sir Keir Starmer leads the first full day of the new Labour government, he has delivered a press conference addressing the nation as the new prime minister.

Setting out his first steps to lead the country, he promised not to raise taxes to fund the “broken NHS and labelled the previous government’s Rwanda scheme a “gimmick” which was “dead and buried before it started”.

It comes as Sir Keir made a raft of appointments on his first day at Downing Street including Rachel Reeves as Britain’s first female chancellor and David Lammy as foreign secretary, who called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The party won one of the biggest parliamentary majorities in history, with 412 seats — a majority of 176, with one result still to come today.

After after the Conservatives were defeated with just 121 seats, the Tories are preparing to hold a leadership contest with Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, and Priti Patel all tipped as potential contenders to replace Rishi Sunak.

But party favourtite Jeremy Hunt has ruled himself out of the race, the two-time former leadership hopeful told GB News that “the time has passed”.