A year of Keir: Mirror experts cast their verdict on Labour's first 12 months

In the early hours of July 5 2024, a beaming Keir Starmer told activists: "Change begins now."

The man who would become Prime Minister had defied his critics and turned Labour into an election-winning machine. Labour stormed to power with 411 seats, wiping out the Tories, who won just 121 seats in the worst result in their party's history.

Mr Starmer told an ecstatic crowd of Labour members that a "sunlight of hope" was shining that day, and Britain would "get its future back". But despite this emphatic endorsement from the country, governing it has proved to be a challenge.

Rachel Reeves soon discovered the Tories had left a £22billion black hole in the public finances and made the disastrous decision to strip millions of pensioners of the winter fuel allowance. A summer marred by appalling riots in the wake of the Southport murders, Downing Street infighting and a row over freebies punctured the optimism further.

The Chancellor splashed the cash in the Budget, with a £40billion tax raid to fund £70billion in public spending to rebuild Britain's public services after Tory austerity.

Billions of pounds are being ploughed into recruiting more teachers, cutting NHS waiting lists, upgrading train lines and investing in jobs. But the Government faced a backlash from businesses and farmers over the tax hikes.

NHS waiting lists started to fall and the Government set out a 10-year plan to overhaul the struggling health service. Labour endured a bruising set of local elections in May, with Reform UK seizing control of a number of English councils and winning a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby.

Free breakfast clubs were rolled out in the first 750 primary schools, and another 500,000 children will become eligible for free school meals.

At the Spending Review, the Chancellor set out a £300billion package to renew Britain, with £113billion for infrastructure projects, including £39billion for affordable homes over the next decade, £15.6billion for transport networks outside of London and £16.7billion for nuclear power.

The Government partially U-turned on the winter fuel cut, ensuring 9 million pensioners will get the payment this winter.

Mr Starmer's efforts to build a relationship with Donald Trump paid dividends, pulling off a US-UK trade deal that shielded British businesses from the worst of the US President's trade tariffs.

He stepped in to smooth tensions after Mr Trump kicked President Volodymyr Zelensky out of the White House, and led talks to build support for peace in Ukraine. Ukraine and the Middle East continued to dominate the Prime Minister's attention as the US President kept the world on tenterhooks about what he would do next.

Rising global threats prompted the Prime Minister to pledge to ramp up defence spending to 2.5% by 2027, funded by a raid on the foreign aid budget. In June, he joined NATO allies in committing to hike defence and security spending to 5% by 2035 to appease Mr Trump.

But while he was away, Labour anger about plans to cut disability benefits boiled over, forcing the Government to gut the legislation to avoid a damaging Commons defeat.

Ms Reeves was in tears during Prime Minister's Questions the next day, which led to borrowing costs surging and a fall in the value of the pound as speculation rose about her position.

She said it was a personal issue and the PM and the Chancellor put on a united front the next day, with Mr Starmer saying he had "every faith in my Chancellor".

It was a difficult end to a testing year. But the PM was clear he's getting on with the job and determined to deliver the change he promised.

The Mirror team has dug into how the Government has performed on key issues it its first year.

By Lizzy Buchan, Political Editor

This year has been testing for Keir Starmer. He arrived in No10 with a thumping majority, rewarded by voters desperate for change after years of Tory chaos.

But the Prime Minister learned quickly that the inheritance was far worse than expected and public patience was already stretched to breaking point.

A year on, Mr Starmer is in the trenches. The last few weeks have been brutal, with U-turns on winter fuel and welfare, and Labour MPs in open revolt.

Over the last year, I've travelled all over the world with the PM and he strikes me as a serious, thoughtful man, who understands the deep challenges facing Britain.

He's motivated by public service and deeply frustrated by the injustices plaguing ordinary people. But he has struggled at times to convince voters he's on their side.

The Starmer paradox is that a man who grew up in a working class family is viewed by some as an establishment figure. And his buttoned-up public persona doesn't match who he is in private.

He can be utterly ruthless when he wants to be. But people close to him always say he's incredibly kind.

I've seen this in private conversations I've had with him, where he can be warm, funny and thoughtful.

He cares deeply about rebuilding Britain but he has struggled to spell out to the public what that looks like. He needs to fix this.

He must hold his nerve on gripping difficult problems, from the NHS and immigration to driving up growth so people feel better off.

But Mr Starmer must also be clear what he stands for and face down deep public mistrust with honesty and conviction.

By Tom Pettifor, Crime Editor

I had just been made the Daily Mirror's crime correspondent in 2013 when I saw first-hand the disgust police officers had for the Coalition Government.

Tensions were running high in the hall at the Police Federation annual conference in Bournemouth as Home Secretary Theresa May took to the lectern. She had overseen savage cuts to forces but escaped without being booed as she had the year before though officers made clear their disgust for her government.

May and Tory chancellor George Osborne took no notice and continued to set a wrecking ball to policing, smashing out local bobbies and gutting forces of experienced cops.

It saw 21,732 offices lost by 2018 - a drop of 15% from 2010. During 14 years of Conservative rule police officers saw increased workloads and diminished pay and pensions.

At the same time, I watched as courts crumbled and backlogs lengthened. Victims of crime were increasingly being failed. And I chatted to inmates as they left prison early because jails were so overcrowded.

So officers should have been breathing a sigh of relief at last year's election results. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has promised 13,000 officers and community support officers working in neighbourhoods in England and Wales.

However, the true intentions of Keir Starmer's government were revealed earlier this month when Rachel Reeves announced an extra £2.1 billion for policing over the next three years.

Because of existing deficits, the funding will not be enough to keep officer numbers steady and make the 13,000 target impossible to achieve, the National Police Chiefs' Council has warned They say it will not allow forces to address Labour's priorities of halving violence against women and knife crime.

UK policing undoubtedly needs radical reform from within. But if Labour continue to fail to provide adequate funding they will never achieve their goals.

By Dave Burke, Political Correspondent

When he came to power, Keir Starmer said there would be no quick fixes on migration. But the sight of people arriving in their droves onboard small boats, and thousands of asylum seekers living in hotels is turning into a big problem.

The Government has asked for patience in its efforts to smash the gangs, but with Nigel Farage breathing down its neck, patience is in small supply. Home Office insiders believe better working with Europe will pay off, but it could take until next year for the results to show.

Nearly 20,000 made the dangerous crossing in the first six months of the year - up 48% on 2024. Failure to drive this down will be catastrophic.

But there are more tangible results on overall migration. Mr Starmer said he wants to drive down net migration, which hit a record level under the Tories.

Latest figures show this fell to 431,000 in the year to December 2024 - down from 860,000 12 months earlier. A white paper bringing in a string of changes to immigration rules, including abolishing social care visas.

In all, Labour's measures are expected to slash a further 100,000 from the net migration total. This, and more than 30,000 deportations since last July, show Mr Starmer wants to take the fight to Reform UK.

By Graham Hiscott, Head of Business

Labour went all-out to woo the business world ahead of the general election - and it worked. Industry had high hopes for Keir Starmer’s government, and financial markets were reassured.

But it’s fair to say it’s been a rocky ride since, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget raid on businesses - including a hike in employers’ national insurance - leaving many firm smarting. The much longed-for economic growth has been feeble, while the government’s borrowing costs have kept on soaring.

But for all the gloom, business leaders are clinging on to the relative stability Labour offers compared with the shambles of the last Tory government.

Tax hikes in this autumn Budget will go down like a cup of cold sick, but many firms I speak to aren’t as fussed about changes in the Employment Rights Bill that some vocal critics would have you believe.

It’s fair to say the honeymoon period is over, but companies have praised Labour’s investment heavy commitments, including the recent Industrial Strategy. Business confidence is shaky but the green shoots are there.

By Martin Bagot, Health Editor

Keir Starmer’s government has brought about the first sustained fall in the NHS waiting list in over a decade. The NHS waiting list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.8 million treatments in England following a steady upward trajectory from 2.5 million in 2010 when the Tories came to power.

The waiting list has since come down to £7.4 million - its lowest for two years - and a raft of other key NHS metrics show the service has turned a corner.

The problem is that waits for GPs, A&E care and 999 response times had deteriorated so much that there is still a hell of a long way to go. Many patients will not yet have noticed that things have started to improve.

The NHS still has deep rooted problems of low productivity, staff shortages and outdated tech and buildings.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day and Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s plan for the NHS has the potential to future proof it for the next generation. But you generally get what you pay for and the success of this plan will depend on how well the Treasury funds the NHS in the years to come.

By Sophie Huskisson, Political Correspondent

From day one, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson made it her mission to ensure more kids across Britain have better opportunities.

The politician genuinely believes in the transformative power of education, having grown up in a council house on a street in Sunderland, to studying at Oxford University and then later Parliament, thanks in part to her amazing teachers.

Labour put education as a cornerstone of the election campaign, with the party’s manifesto pledging to hire 6,500 more teachers, roll out free breakfast clubs in every primary school and bring in supervised toothbrushing for three to five year olds.

Since then, Keir Starmer has also announced a significant expansion of free school meals to all kids in households who get Universal Credit, in a move that could save parents up to £500 a year.

Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill - to improve safeguarding and welfare of kids has been a headline piece of legislation in its first year.

The landmark bill aims to crack down on spiralling school absence in schools, save parents cash by helping with school uniform costs and strengthen support for children who are or have been in care, among a raft of other measures.

Ministers stuck to their guns over their decision to end private school tax breaks, forcing them to pay VAT at the standard 20% rate from the start of the year. Right wing critics fiercely condemned the plan but Ms Phillipson stood by the decision to raise money for kids in state schools.

The Labour government started on a good note with schools after teachers voted overwhelmingly to accept a 5.5% pay rise - after taking mass strike action under the Tories.

But one year on, teachers in England are again threatening industrial action after a proposed 2.8% pay rise for this year, which could spell trouble for Ms Phillipson going forward.

By Chris Hughes, Defence and Security Editor

The government’s political defence team led by Defence Secretary John Healey has made steady methodical progress in boosting protection of the UK and trying to make weapons procurement more efficient.

One of the few areas in which the Tory disaster project celebrated successes was in supporting Ukraine, with the backing of the opposition and Labour has continued with that.

Billions have been pledged to Kyiv’s defences, not just because it is the right thing to do but because the UK is mindful of protecting the eastern European flank.

Boosting defence spending to 5% by 2035 and incremental increases in the meantime is promising but many feel not soon enough, given the Russia threat, along with increasingly cosy allies Iranian, North Korean and perhaps China.

The tenet of this government, however, appears to be straining for meaningful change that can be pulled off and that is where the 2035 pledge comes in.

Investment in F35A nuclear weapons carrying and conventional warfare jets makes sense- perhaps along with savings as they replace 12 of the planned carrier friendly F35Bs.

It will add to the UK’s submarine nuclear capability and enhance nuclear protection with European allies, mirroring the French submarine and air nuclear weapons programme.

This is about maintaining relative peace for the UK by projecting strength and linking up with the rest of NATO, whilst trying to avoid war and the nuclear deterrent will in the coming years be doing the heavy lifting.

Forces veteran Labour MP Fred Thomas, serving on the defence committee, asked forcefully this week of Healey what the UK has if it needs to deploy against Russia if Putin pushes further into Eastern Europe, perhaps into allied territory.

The answer was awkward and the silence that followed it even more so, in my view - we have 1,000 troops in Estonia and erm…

The surge for defence substance and not bluster is sincere but Healey knows it’s going to cost us in the coming years. The hope is that the defence dividend, boosting the UK defence industry and creating thousands of jobs will pay off.

Time will tell but this is now a race against that and the clock is ticking.

By Mikey Smith, Deputy Political Editor

Keir Starmer has built a reputation as Europe's Trump whisperer. He came closer than anyone else to calming the US President down over Ukraine.

And he managed to secure a trade deal which, even if it's worse than what we had under Joe Biden, is still better than the alternative.

And he's done that by being overwhelmingly nice to him. Gushing about the special relationship, inviting him for tea with the King, making small talk about families and football and essentially telling him how great he is.

But two problems loom for Mr Starmer with this approach. First, Donald Trump is incredibly unpopular in this country - with Labour supporters, MPs and the public at large.

And that leads to his second problem - at some point, Donald Trump is going to do something manifestly unacceptable to the international community.

And at that point, Mr Starmer is going to have to decide whether he'll risk losing support from the British people by continuing the softly softly approach to try and talk him round, or whether it's finally time to channel Hugh Grant in Love Actually and say: "Donald, since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger."

By Nada Farhoud, Environment Editor

Within days of being in power, Labour committed to doubling onshore wind farms, boosted budgets for renewables and stepped back from the last government's attempts to open a new coal mine.

It has also shown it is willing to be tough with water companies that continue to pollute our rivers and seas by threatening their bosses with jail time. But more must be done to stop this scandal for good.

It also needs to get tougher on other serial polluters - fossil fuel companies that have run up record profits, while the climate crisis rages. Taxing would provide money to support communities that have already suffered from floods, wildfires or coastal erosion.

It also must do more to correct the false claims by the Conservatives and Reform that achieving the UK’s net zero target is impossible - explaining how it will lower energy bills and mean cleaner air for us all.

The Labour government was elected on a mandate to deliver the “biggest boost to animal welfare in a generation.”

But so far it has also not delivered on a variety of manifesto commitments including phasing out animal testing, ending the use of snares, fur imports, trail hunting and banning trophy hunting imports. The strengthening of these laws is long overdue.

By Ashley Cowburn, Deputy Political Editor

Welfare has perhaps been the most messy and unpopular area for Keir Starmer during his first 12 months in office. Within weeks of winning the election the Chancellor Rachel Reeves scrapped winter fuel payments for all but the very poorest pensioners.

After a bruising set of local elections in May - with voters raising the issue on the doorstep - the policy was largely junked by the Prime Minister. But the shambolic scenes in the Commons this week over the welfare bill was a low point.

For months dozens of Labour MPs and pretty much every disability charity in the country had warned the government to drop plans to cut Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Ministers finally listened as they reckoned with a Commons defeat on Tuesday.

After a series of messy U-turns large parts of the welfare bill were ditched - leaving the Chancellor with a massive blackhole in her spending plans.

There have been some positive steps, such as overhauling Jobcentres and a youth guarantee scheme designed to tackle the number of 18-21-year-olds not in work, education or training.

In the autumn, ministers will also publish a (delayed) child poverty strategy. Charities and Labour MPs will judge that work on whether the Tory-era two-child benefit limit - a policy blamed for trapping kids in poverty - is scrapped.

It is estimated to impact over 100 extra children every day. Downing Street will face another explosive row if the policy remains.

By Dave Burke, Political Correspondent

If Labour is going to drive up growth, tackling problems on Britain's transport networks will be integral. Under the Tories HS2 became a symbol of failure, with the government vowing never to repeat it.

Legislation to nationalise rail firms was put forward in the first few days after the general election. And there's been a huge injection of infrastructure funding this year.

Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £15billion for transport projects. These include £2.5billion to expand the tram system in Greater Manchester and £2.4billion to improve the network around Birmingham.

The Government has also boosted bus passengers by announcing a £3 fare cap will be in place until 2027. Mr Starmer raised this from the £2 limit brought in by the Tories, but kept it in place amid fears it could be scrapped altogether.

By Ashley Cowburn, Deputy Political Editor

Angela Rayner has been frank about the scale of the housing crisis. She came into office as Housing Secretary 12 months ago with high ambitions - most notably Labour's mission to build 1.5million million new homes by the end of the decade.

There have been important first steps by restoring housing targets for local authorities. But there have been suggestions the party is not on track to meet the target. Crucial data to judge progress is expected to be published later this year.

Clear progress has been made on renters' reform. In 2019 the Tories first vowed to reform the sector by abolishing no-fault evictions - a promise that was never delivered on.

Within 12 months of Labour being in power the legislation to stop landlords evicting tenants on a whim and without reason is finally making its way through the Lords. But tenants still face sky-high bills for a roof over their head and some would like to see more radical action, such as rent controls.

Labour has also promised to deliver 300,000 social and affordable homes after years of neglect. Charities have warned the government needs to create an additional 90,000 new social homes each year over the next decade to clear massive backlogs.

Data published in February showed around 1.3million households on waiting lists. And over 160,000 children are currently living in temporary accommodation, including bedsits, hotels and B&Bs.

Important strides have been made but the housing crisis remains very much a reality.