Starmer’s Speech to Influencers at Downing Street ‘Content Creator Briefing’ – Guido Fawkes

“Good afternoon everyone. Really nice to see you here in Downing Street. And it is really good to be in a room full of creators for the first of its kind, which is a briefing like this in this room for creators alone. And we’ve topped up totted up all the number of your combined followers. Between all of you sitting here in this room, you’ve got more than 5.5 million followers.

That is really incredible. And fantastic. And we made a promise to do things differently as a government. We’re following through on that. One of the things that I think is most different now than it’s been for years is the way in which people get their news and their information that is changing. It’s changing probably faster than most things.

More and more people aren’t just turning on the television or opening the newspaper. They’re unlocking their phones. They’re listening to you and people like you, watching you, and turning to the platforms and the creators that they trust the most. And that’s really important because, trust is really important in politics, and it can be fragile.

And when people across the country are still struggling and they are, it’s the cost of living is the number one issue that they always tell us why it’s most heavily on their minds and on their families. And for some of them, it turns into a question of whether things can actually improve in their lives. In a sense that it’s really hard to have faith in the future, when you’re living day to day.

So if we want to reach people, we want to listen to them and earn their confidence. I strongly believe that we need to meet them where they are, rather than directing them to the old ways of doing things. And that takes me back to you and why we’re doing that today. It’s also really important because our priorities as a government have to be the same as the vast majority of people across the country.

So their priorities or our priorities, and they, they see that, and that’s why I’ve said time and time again, the number one mission of this government is to bring down the cost of living, because that is the key issue. That is the priority for so many people. One of the biggest pressures, of course, is energy and the cost of the energy bills.

And for many households, that’s become a major source of stress because energy bills have gone up a lot in recent years. And that stress of not knowing whether you can pay the bills is something I understand personally, because when I was growing up, we couldn’t afford to pay all of our bills. So he knew what it was like sitting around the kitchen table worrying about not being able to pay bills.

And that’s why it’s so important, that we act and that we act now. And that’s exactly what we’re doing in a little over a month. I’m really pleased to say, the action that we took at the budget to take an average 150 pounds off energy bills, will start benefiting families up and down the country so that every household, every family up and down the country.

And I can confirm to you that tomorrow Ofgem will announce the new price cap. So this is going to be top news tomorrow. And that marks another milestone in the government’s mission to cut the cost of living for the British people, because this policy will benefit everyone. And it’s only possible because of the fair decisions this government has made in the last budget, where we asked the wealthy to pay a bit more to help working people pay their bills, and we’ve already made sure that about 6 million families on means tested benefit get the 150 pound warm home discount.

So for those families, it’s the warm home discount. Plus the 150 which all families, all households will get. But we’ve also rolling out our Warm Homes plan. This is a plan to upgrade millions of homes across the country, with the insulation of the tech that keeps bills down, because better than just taking money off the bills is putting the insulation of a tech in place so the bills aren’t high in the first place.

Takes longer, but it’s really important to be sustainable. That’s the kind of investment and improvements that can save hundreds of pounds for families every single year. And it’s the only way, in the end, to get the bills down for good. Because otherwise you’re on a roller coaster of fossil fuel bills. And those bills, depend on what happens elsewhere.

After Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago today, that started, energy bills doubled and there’s still 40% more than they would otherwise be because of the conflict in Ukraine. And this morning, I hosted and chaired a meeting of the coalition of the willing, which is all the countries that are supporting Ukraine, to mark the four years of that awful conflict.

And that is why, alongside the money off the bills, alongside the insulation, we need to invest in renewables, and nuclear to get bills down for good because that’s homegrown. We control control it. And therefore whatever Putin does doesn’t affect the bill that comes through your doors and through the doors, and into the households of millions of people across the country.

Now, obviously, energy is a big feature at the moment. It’s not the only, part of the plan. Because whenever there’s an opportunity to relieve pressure, we’re taking it. So the other examples are freezing rail fares and prescription charges. That’s the first time rail fare has been, frozen for 30 years. Reducing the cost of childcare.

So childcare between nine months and four years is now free. Rolling out free school meals and breakfast clubs for some children. By the way, that would be the only decent meal that they have during the course of the day. So hugely important to that capping ground rents for leaseholders and anybody who’s got a leasehold paying a ground rent, we’ll be very pleased to hear what we’re doing that and getting rid of those ground.

But rents are boosting the minimum wage. Again, which will go up this year, as it did last year. Now, I’m not going to pretend for people who are struggling with the cost of living that that’s all a silver bullet. All their troubles will be gone. But it does make a difference, a tangible difference. And that changes that families, will feel gives them a bit of breathing space.

And the opportunity, to start hoping again about the future, and to start to believe the national renewal that the government is totally committed to is real for them. And that brings me back to why today matters. Because none of that works without trust, without listening and having honest conversations. And you play a vital role in that, in helping people understand what’s changing, how to navigate their bills, make the most of what’s out there, and making sure that their voices are heard.

So, thank you again for being here today. Thanks for being in this room. For the first of these events with creators. This has never been done by any government. Before. I think it is a signal of how things are changing. And, you will be able to say, you were in the room for the very first one of these, as we took a big step, towards how we communicate, and who we communicate with.

So today is about energy bills above all else and about the cost of living, but it’s also about you and the recognition that we have as a government of how important it is that people do have trusted sources of information, of people following you because they trust you. And that is a very precious commodity when it comes to important issues like the cost of living.

So thank you for being here. Thank you for making history today. With us.”