Keir Starmer begins UK country tour to ‘reset’ relations

Unlock Editor’s Digest for free

FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Sir Keir Starmer began a tour of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Sunday, with the new British Prime Minister promising to “reset” relations between Westminster and the nations of the United Kingdom.

Labour has won a majority in England, Scotland and Wales in this week’s general election, with Starmer securing 411 seats in total in a landslide victory that took his party to power for the first time since 2010.

Starmer’s tour began in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party holds power in the devolved Holyrood assembly. After Thursday’s election, the SNP holds just nine national seats in the House of Commons, posing a major obstacle to its push for independence.

“The change I promised for Scotland starts now, and that is why I am here for my first engagement… to deliver on the commitment I made,” Starmer said at an event in Edinburgh.

Starmer, who was then on his way to talks with SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney, said he wanted to “do something for Scotland” rather than play “party politics”.

He said his “first steps” would be to immediately begin discussions on the Grangemouth refinery, which operator Petroineos plans to close and turn into a fuel import terminal, with a loss of 400 jobs.

“This is obviously a source of great concern to me in terms of what steps we can take now to preserve jobs and secure the future,” he said.

Other “firsts” included the creation of GB Energy, the Scottish-based state-owned energy company that formed the centrepiece of Labour’s campaign offer to the Scots.

Starmer will travel on Monday to Belfast and Cardiff, two places where regional leaders are also grappling with the threat of job losses in industry and manufacturing.

The new prime minister still has plenty of other mid-level and junior ministerial roles to fill, but on Saturday Starmer surprised many by bringing back a New Labour-era minister, Jacqui Smith, as education minister. Smith will receive a peerage.

The new Prime Minister also gave an immediate return to government to Douglas Alexander, a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government who had won Lothian East from the SNP. He was appointed business minister.

Relations between the UK government at Westminster and the devolved administrations were often strained during the previous 14 years of Conservative rule.

“People across the UK are united by shared beliefs,” Starmer said ahead of the tour. “Fundamental values ​​of respect, service and community that define us as a great nation.

“That starts today with an immediate reset of my government’s approach to working with the First and Deputy First Ministers, because meaningful cooperation centred on respect will be key to driving change in our United Kingdom.”