Keir Starmer pledges to abolish House Of Lords

NME

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has promised to abolish the House Of Lords in his first term as Prime Minister if he is elected.

In a new interview with Sky News, Starmer confirmed that the party want to abolish the institution, and that it’s impossible for anyone to adequately “defend” it.

The plan comes as part of a new report from Labour on Britain’s future, which has been led by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and was unveiled at a press conference in Leeds this morning (December 5).

“What we’re going to do after today is now consult on those recommendations, test them, and in particular, look at how can they be implemented,” Starmer said.

Confirming that he will abolish the House Of Lords, he explained: “Because what I asked when I asked Gordon Brown to set up the commission to do this, I said what I want is recommendations that are capable of being implemented in the first term.”

“We’re going to get one shot at fixing our economy and fixing our politics and I want to make sure we get it exactly right.”

At the Leeds press conference, Brown proposed “the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster and Whitehall our country has seen”.

Starmer added: “You are being held back. Held back by a system that hoards power in Westminster.

“A system which smugly thinks it knows what skills, transport, planning and job support West Yorkshire needs better than the people who live here.

“I’ve long been convinced that this broken model has held back our politics and held back our economy. And I’m determined we unbind ourselves and free our potential.”

Elsewhere, last month saw Zayn Malik call on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to offer free school meals “to every child in poverty in England” amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Taking to Instagram, the former One Direction member shared a letter he’d written to the PM. “No child should have to suffer the trauma and stigma of hunger & poverty,” he captioned the post. “We want every child to grow up healthy to lead productive lives.”

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