What the first 100 days under Labour would look like

Sir Keir Starmer would make changes in areas including immigration, energy and private schools

If the polls are correct, Sir Keir Starmer is just days away from becoming Britain’s next Prime Minister.

Labour’s first 100 days  in office from the general election on July 4 will set the tone for what his Government will do.

The party’s manifesto sets out plans for its time in office – but it does not contain everything that Labour will end up doing.

This is what the first three-and-a-bit months of Sir Keir’s Britain could look like.

Day one

Royal permission 

If his party wins the election, Sir Keir’s first port of call will be Buckingham Palace, where he will ask the King for his permission to form a government.

Immediately afterwards he would be whisked to No 10, where traditionally he would deliver a brief speech to the public from a podium in Downing Street.

He would then head behind the famous black door to meet and greet the staff, before inviting inside those Labour MPs who will be appointed to his first Cabinet.

Immediate policy priorities

There are two policies which Labour has said it will crack on with immediately.

One is Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda migrant deportation scheme, which Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general,  has said will be axed “on day one”.

In its place, Labour has said it will create a “border security command”, appoint “hundreds” of investigators and give counter-terror powers to Border Force to “smash criminal gangs”.

Sir Keir has also said that he would kickstart reforms to the planning system “straightaway” upon taking office.

This would set the stage for Labour’s attempts to ramp up housebuilding and infrastructure development across Britain.

Week one

Nato summit 

On July 9, just four days after his appointment, Sir Keir would take his first foreign trip, attending Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington alongside Joe Biden, the US president, and other world leaders.

Private schools, strike talks and onshore wind

Sir Keir has pledged that Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private school fees would be rolled out “straight away” if he wins the election.

The Labour leader said the exact timing would depend on “the timetable in Parliament” but committed to bringing in the policy “as soon as it can be done”.

Elsewhere, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has promised to meet striking junior doctors on July 5, the day after the election.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has threatened to strike in the first few months after the election, which would make it more difficult for Labour to cut waiting lists as promised.

Finally, Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, has committed to repealing the ban on new onshore wind farms in the first weeks of a Labour government.

Week two

King’s Speech

July 17 will be the date when Labour’s policy programme becomes clear, as the King’s Speech opens the new Parliament.

EU Political Community summit

On July 18, as Prime Minister, Sir Keir would host major EU leaders including Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz for the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

100-day security review and Sunak’s smoking ban

With Parliament open, Labour will likely kickstart its legislative agenda before summer recess.

This includes the introduction of new workers’ rights to bring a “new deal for working people”, which Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has been spearheading.

It would involve an end to zero-hours contracts, fire-and-rehire practices and easing “restrictions on union activity”.

Elsewhere, a promised 100-day review of the security threats facing Britain upon entering government would begin.

The joint “security sprint” exercise will be conducted with the input of MI5, the police and the civil service, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has said.

Rishi Sunak, who could have left the Commons all together by this point, would see his smoking ban legislation revived after it was not rushed through before the end of the last Parliament.

The policy, which would have made it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after Jan 1 2009 and aimed to gradually abolish smoking, was supported by Labour.

Sir Keir has said Labour is “committed” to the legislation, indicating that his party would reintroduce the legislation if elected.

The end of July and into August

The rest of July will see Labour conduct more of its legislative agenda before Parliament closes for a shorter-than-usual summer recess.

Recess is usually from mid-to-late July until early September, but Labour is likely to cut it short so that MPs are only away during August.

In the week before recess, Sir Keir’s party will push on with introducing new laws.

They could include Great British Energy, a state-owned generator of green electricity which Labour claims will help make the country “a clean energy superpower”.

The party has claimed the company will cost £8.3 billion and be paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

When Parliament does close for recess at the start of August, a number of new peers will also likely be created to increase Labour’s representation in the House of Lords.

There are currently 171 Labour peers and 275 Conservatives.

September

Labour’s parliamentary agenda will continue in September after the end of recess.

The 14 different “reviews” promised in the party’s manifestos will likely be underway by this point.

Areas where policy will only be decided after the election include defence strategy, Universal Credit policy, changes to parental leave and pension reform.

But the month will instead be dominated by party conference season, which is kickstarted by the Liberal Democrats in Brighton between September 14 and 17.

The following week, Labour conference is held in Liverpool from September 22 to 25.

Then the Conservatives will gather in Birmingham from September 29 to October 2.

October

The last significant act of Labour’s first 100 days will be the party’s first budget in Government since 2009.

Rachel Reeves, who will be Britain’s first woman Chancellor, will deliver it in September or October, either setting the tone for or following on from Labour conference.

There are likely to be calls for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped, even though a commitment to do so does not feature in Labour’s manifesto.

The policies in Labour’s manifesto that will likely form part of the Budget include abolishing non-dom status, closing an inheritance tax loophole for non-doms, overhauling business rates and increasing stamp duty on house purchases by non-UK residents by 1 per cent.

Corporation tax will be capped at the current level of 25 per cent for the entirety of the next Parliament and Labour has said it will not “increase taxes on working people”, with increases to income tax, National Insurance and VAT all ruled out.

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