Watch: Starmer vows Labour will reverse ‘populism and failure’ of Tories in first key speech as PM

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Watch as Sir Keir Starmer holds a press conference on Tuesday 27 August.

The prime minister used a Downing Street speech to promise his government will do the “hard work” to “root out 14 years of rot” under the Tories and suggested the recent riots showed “the cracks in our society after years of populism and failure”.

In a speech from the No 10 rose garden, he said: “The riots didn’t just betray the sickness, they revealed the cure, found not in the cynical conflict of populism but in the coming together of a country the morning after and cleared up their community.

“Because that is who we are, that is what we stand for. People who cared for their neighbour.

“Communities who stood fast against hatred and division. Emergency services who did their duty – even when they were in danger. And a government that put the people of this country first.”

Sir Keir also used his speech to warn that “frankly – things will get worse before we get better” as the Labour administration tries to deal with “not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole”.