Keir Starmer lashes out at Reform in major speech - 'nothing patriotic about fawning over Putin'

Keir Starmer lashed out at Reform UK putting “themselves before the country” as he launched ’s local election campaign.

At an official party event in Chesterfield, the PM used a speech to take aim at ’s party and warn voters not to support them at May 1’s mayoral and council elections. He said there was "nothing patriotic" about Reform UK's attitude towards Russian President and accused the party of wanting to charge people to use the . And he criticised Reform UK MPs having voted against legislation to strengthen voters rights, including improvements to sick and maternity pay.

The PM also mocked Reform’s recent civil war, which has seen its number of MPs fall to just four after Rupert Lowe was suspended. In an appeal to voters, Mr Starmer urged Brits not to support “the parties that continue to put themselves before the country”. He went on: “I'm not just talking about the Tories. I'm talking about Reform as well. They say they want to run the country. They can't even run themselves. You can literally fit their MPs now in the back of a cab, but they still don't know where they're going.”

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The PM continued: “They talk the language of workers rights. They talk it all right, online, sometimes on the doorstep. But what did they do? They voted against banning firing and rehiring. They voted against scrapping exploitative zero-hour contracts. They voted against sick leave and maternity pay. That's what they do. “What about the NHS? They want to charge people for using our NHS.

“They claim to be the party of patriotism. I'll tell you this, there's nothing patriotic about fawning over Putin. They will not deliver the change for working people they need. They will not deliver change for Britain.”

The Prime Minister was joined by his deputy and Labour chairwoman Ellie Reeves as he urged voters to help deliver "the renewal the country needs" by backing its candidates in the party's first test at the ballot box since entering office. Labour is focusing its opening pitch to voters on healthcare, pointing to "swift action" taken by the Government to end planned doctors' strikes by offering an improved pay rise after entering office.

The party says the negotiation of a deal early on has helped spare disruption to hundreds of thousands of appointments, basing that claim on NHS data suggesting 507,000 cancellations occurred between July 2023 and last March during periods of industrial action under the last government.

But the speech was almost entirely overshadowed by Donald Trump's announcement of global tariffs that sent stock markets tumbling across the globe. The Prime Minister said the was "entering a new era" in trade and acknowledged there would be an economic hit to the UK from the 10% import tax slapped on British goods entering the US. But he insisted imposing retaliatory levies, as the has promised, would be the wrong approach as he seeks to secure a deal with Washington to mitigate the damage to Britain.

The local polls - and a by-election in the Runcorn and Helsby seat vacated by ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury - will be the first big electoral test for Mr Starmer since last July's . Ballots will be held for 23 councils and six mayoralties in England.

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