UK election latest: Starmer faces questions for first time as prime minister - and confirms when he'll begin UK tour (2024)

From the cost of living crisis and small boat crossings to the drive for green energy and the war in Ukraine, the Labour government has its work cut out.

To get a sense of the challenges facing Sir Keir Starmer, we spoke to our specialist correspondents about their patches.

By Tom Clarke, science and technology editor

Labour has made some big promises on clean energy. If they deliver on them, it could bring meaningful long-term reductions in energy bills, as well as improve energy security and help reduce the dangers from climate change.

There are companies waiting to invest if Labour can ease the current planning and supply-chain constraints. But how they plan to deliver on other less investment-friendly pledges, like improving energy efficiency of homes and installing heat-pumps in social housing, without spending a lot more public money isn't clear.

Like their predecessors, Labour wants the UK to become a "science superpower". They want to start by healing rifts between researchers and the last government, caused first by Brexit which severed funding sources from the EU, then by the Tories' "war on woke" that seriously undermined trust among universities and saw academics unfairly targeted for their views.

A first test will be the details on a 10-year budget for key research institutions which Labour claims will elevate UK biosciences to "superpower" status. But so far there's been no detail on what those budgets might be.

One interesting area to watch is Labour's stance on AI. The UK's close relationship with big tech firms such as Google has helped us become a heavyweight in AI research and deployment, bringing real economic benefit. Maintaining Labour's commitment to protecting workers from an AI takeover without capitulating to Silicon Valley will be a tightrope walk.

While the last seat of the election has not been officially declared, the SNP candidate has conceded the two-horse race.

Drew Hendry said he would not win and will not attend the second recount in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire - which is technically still ongoing - due to prior commitments.

The Liberal Democrats have claimed victory for their candidate Angus MacDonald in the constituency, which would be their 72nd seat.

Mr Hendry said: "It has been an absolute joy to serve the people of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey for the past nine years.

"I am obviously disappointed not to be continuing that representation under the new Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire boundary and wish the new MP every success in his new role.

"People need an MP who will fight for their needs both local and at UK level and during this cost-of-living crisis, they have never needed help and assistance more."

Ourpolitical correspondent Rob Powell was listening in to Sir Keir Starmer's first news conference as prime minister.

He says that, from what he heard, "this wasn't a politician who was trying to sell his own brand or party.

"It wasn't a politician trying to make waves, make news.

"It wasn't a politician trying to use flowery language or soaring rhetoric.

"This was Keir Starmer, the public administrator. Keir Starmer, in charge of the levers of power, methodically going through what he's been doing since he got into office, and then methodically laying out what he wants to do and what practically he will be doing."

The trips to the four nations of the UK and subsequent visit to Nato shows Sir Keir wants to get "straight into the business of meeting the people that he will be working with to achieve his aims".

On policy, Rob says there was a hint that taxes may need to be raised or spending cut, and "in these first hundred days, we may well be getting something that maybe wasn't set out before in the campaign and in the manifesto, but that does address some of the serious problems that are going on at the moment".

Rob says his overall takeaway is that the news conference showed the kind of PM Sir Keir would be.

He says this was "not someone that wants to be flashy" but rather "someone that wants to solve problems methodically".

But Rob cautions that Sir Keir will need to bring his party and the public with him, which can involve "flowery language" and "rhetoric" to get people on board.

"But then again, when you've got a majority the size of Keir Starmer, maybe he feels that he doesn't need to be a salesman anymore," Rob concludes.

The Sunday Mirror asks Sir Keir Starmer how important diversity in the cabinet is for him.

The PM says he is "really proud of the fact" that his cabinet reflects the aspiration that lies "at the heart of the country".

He is also asked about whether he will appoint more peers to make them ministers.

Sir Keir says he doesn't want to get ahead of himself, but more ministers will be appointed in general.

That concludes the prime minister's first news conference

The Sunday Telegraph asks the prime minister whether he is happy with the NHS chief executiveAmanda Pritchard.

"This is not aimed at the chief executive of the NHS. It is a reflection on the failure of leadership of the last government," says Sir Keir.

"But it is a raw honesty about the state of the NHS because we will not fix it if we are not honest."

He says it will be tough to hear if you work in the NHS, because they have put a "huge amount in, in difficult circ*mstances".

"Our job now is not just to say who broke it - the last government - but to get on and start to fix it."

Sir Keir is asked whether he can give a guarantee on if he'll get rid of the two child benefit cap - which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children.

The prime minister says the answer today is no different to a week ago.

"I said some tough things in the campaign because I meant them. And I wasn't going to do what others had done, which is to say sweet things on the way in only to do a press conference like this and say we can't do any of that."

He says the government intends to have economic stability and the two child benefit cap is one example of a difficult decision he has taken.

"We intend to ensure that we stick to our rules and that is why I can't make a commitment on the two child benefit."

However, he says the government will reduce child poverty.

The Sun on Sunday asks the prime minister if he will continue the previous government's early release scheme, and if the Rwanda scheme is dead and buried.

On the deportation scheme, Sir Keir says it was dead and buried before it started.

He says he is not prepared to "continue with gimmicks".

On prisons, Sir Keir says there are too many prisoners and not enough spots in prisons.

"That's a monumental failure of the last government," he says.

But it can't be fixed overnight, he says, and "it is impossible to simply say we will stop the early release of prisoners".

He says "tough decisions" are to come, and also speaks on early intervention, saying he believes that - while it is difficult - stopping people becoming institutionalised in the correctional system will save money in the future.

Asked by The Sunday Times if he is committed to the estimated £12bn compensation package for victims of the infected blood scandal, Sir Keir Starmer says he is.

He is also asked if he will spend 2.5% of GDP on defence spending.

Sir Keir says he will - but it has to happen within his "fiscal rules" - adding that "we will not be tempted, as the last government was, to pretend that money is there now, which isn't there".

The newspaper also asks about the 40,000 NHS appointments he pledged in the campaign.

He says work has begun on this in St Thomas's Hospital in London and other hospitals - including in Leeds - with extra appointments created.

Channel 4 asks Sir Keir Starmer whether he has got used to being called prime minister.

"I am very happy to be called Keir or prime minister," says the leader.

He is also asked when the public should expect things to get getter.

"The work has started," Sir Keir replies.

"And we will deliver change as quickly as we can," he adds, including in the early months and years of the government.

"What I can't pretend is that we can fix everything overnight. The obvious example of that is the mess last government made in relation to prisons."

LBC asks Sir Keir if he agreed with his new prisons minister that only a third of those imprisoned should definitely be there.

"The prisons minister has huge experience here and has invested a huge amount over many years in relation to prisons and that's why I wanted to make that appointment," says Sir Keir.

Government needs to change the fact that those who leave prison can often end up back there, he says.

ITV's Robert Peston puts to the prime minister that if he finds things have been left in a worse state than expected, is he ready to take tough decisions, including raising more money through taxation.

"We are going to have to take the tough decisions, take them early and we will. We will do that with a raw honesty," replies Sir Keir.

The NHS is "broken" and Labour will express the problem as it is in order to fix it, he says.

"That is not a prelude to saying there is some tax decision we didn't speak about."

Peston also puts it to the Labour leader that he won a landslide with a disproportionately small percentage of the vote.

Sir Keir says Labour will be a "government of service to all people" - from those who voted for Labour for the first time to those who voted for other parties.

"We will not turn our back on people just because we don't think they voted for us. We will govern for the whole country."

He vows to turn his back on "tribal politics" and says priorities must be set by the country, not party advantage.