Starmer says 2025 will be a year for UK to 'rediscover great nation we are' with 'more cash in your pocket'
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Sir Keir Starmer has hailed 2024 as a "year of change" as he shared his first New Year message as prime minister. But the Labour leader, who took office after a staggering general election victory over the Conservatives in July, admitted there is "still so much more to do" in 2025.
It will include a plan to make sure there will be "more cash in your pocket", as well as a raft of other initiatives for "change". Almost six months into the prime minister's time in Downing Street, Sir Keir is battling criticisms of his party's management of the economy and the direction in which he is taking the country.
Despite this, the Labour leader's New Year message largely takes an optimistic tone, celebrating a "year of changing Britain for the better" and looking forward to a "fight for change" that will define "every waking hour of this government". The prime minister also takes a moment to joke that his mantra of "change" didn't extend to football in 2024, lamenting "another agonisingly close shave for England" in the Euros final.
He said: "But change in politics, with the election of this Labour government in July. And more importantly, with the work of change that we have begun. "The minimum wage will be raised by a record amount. Wages are up more broadly. Returns of foreign national criminals - up 20%. Billions of pounds worth of new projects in clean British energy making our country more secure. And over £25bn invested in our NHS starting to cut waiting lists in your local hospital.
