UK Labour leader promises 'a decade of national renewal' in disrupted conference speech

LIVERPOOL, England — U.K. opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer on Tuesday promised "a decade of national renewal" during a keynote conference speech disrupted by a protester.

The man accessed the stage as Starmer opened his remarks and doused him with glitter. After a brief pause as the protester was escorted out of the conference hall, Starmer removed his jacket and dusted himself off to rapturous applause from party members.

"If he thinks that bothers me, he doesn't know me," Starmer declared.

"Protest or power, that's why we changed our party, conference. That's why we changed our party."

Starmer was speaking to a full conference hall with multiple packed overspill rooms during what the party claims was its most attended conference on record among members and exhibitors.

The Labour leader opened his speech by promising "a decade of national renewal," a signal of the party's confidence of a generational shift in power after next year's General Election.

He also lauded the change the party has undergone since its landslide election defeat in 2019, proclaiming that Labour is "a party no longer in thrall to gesture politics, no longer a party of protest — a party of service."

"We should never forget that politics should tread lightly on people's lives, that our job is to shoulder the burden for working people, carry the burden, not add to it," Starmer added.

Throughout conference, senior ministers have emphasized Labour's commitments to economic growth, fiscal responsibility and political stability. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday said the party was "ready to serve, ready to lead and ready to rebuild Britain" as she announced a slew of sweeping economic reforms Labour plans to implement, should it win power in 2024.

Labour holds around a 20-point lead over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party across most major polling, with the ruling party damaged by a string of scandals, the fallout from Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss's market-roiling "mini-budget" and a cost-of-living crisis.

Labour members told CNBC prior to Starmer's speech that this was the most hopeful conference they had attended in many years, while many fringe events focused on issues the party expects to inherit next year.

Sunak is required to call an election before the end of January 2025, and the overwhelming sense at the Labour conference was of a party that is very much preparing for government.