Labour leadership contest: Sir Keir Starmer says party must retain radicalism and relevance to win back voters In a bid to secure the backing of grassroots party members, the shadow Brexit secretary signalled towards his socialist credentials

Sir Keir Starmer said that the Labour party must make itself more relevant to the lives of British people while retaining its radicalism in order to win back votes in the next election.

In a bid to secure the backing of grassroots party members, the shadow Brexit secretary signalled towards his socialist credentials while emphasising the need for unity within the fractured movement.

“The last general election result was devastating for the Labour Party,” he told Sky News ahead of the launch of his leadership campaign in Manchester on Saturday.

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“We need to rebuild, and first and foremost we need to be united.

“We need to be an effective opposition, taking the argument to Boris Johnson – and that means having the best talent we have on show, but also being radical and relevant for 2024.

“But most importantly we need to forge a path to victory.

“We have now lost four general elections, and we now need to focus on the next general election, probably 2024, and set out our vision for the late 2020s and the 2030s – and a radical vision that will need to be.”

He went on to stress the importance of defending the party values by retaining “radicalism” while restoring trust in the party he said had been “seeping away for many years”.

“People desperately need and want us to win,” he said.

“We have to deliver a programme that will tackle low pay and insecure work, rebuild our public services, empower communities and tackle the climate emergency.

“We have to rebuild people’s trust in Labour as a force for good and real change.”

People’s choice

He further vowed to win back votes lost to Boris Johnson and the Conservative party in Labour’s traditional heartlands.

Sir Keir is currently the favourite to win the Labour leadership contest. A YouGov poll at the start of the month indicated he would come out top in the ballot of party members.

He also appears to be the favourite among MPs, and was the first to achieve the 22 nominations required to progress to the next stage of the race.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips have also secured 22 nominations.

Struggling behind with only 10 nominations, however, is shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, while Clive Lewis has just four.

The deadline to meet the required threshold is Monday afternoon. If they fail to do so, they will automatically drop out of the competition.

The new leader of the Labour Party will be announced on 4 April.