Keir Starmer has made a "great start" says Labour peer but must bring hope rather than "miserabilist" tone

The former Home Secretary and now Labour life peer in the House of Lords said he felt the way the new government have approached international relations and the nationwide anti-immigrant disorder in August had been positive and was full of praise for the new Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, who represents Sheffield Heeley.

“I think they made a great start,” he told The Star’s Sheffield Scoop podcast.

“I think they’ve picked up the international agenda with Keir Starmer going to Washington twice... I think all [the challenges] were handled extremely well.”

The former MP for Sheffield Brightside (now Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough) knows a thing or two about governing after a landslide Labour General Election victory. He become Education Secretary following the 1997 election and served as Home Secretary from 2001-2004.

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He understands the need to get unpopular decision making done early in a political term, but made clear his desire for more positivity to have continued out of the ‘Change’ election campaign in July.

“I am bemused about the miserabilist bit of the agenda,” he said. “I know we have a gap between income and expenditure, I know that measures are going to have to be taken to deal with it and it’s not going to be easy, but I think after the austerity measures of 14 years ago and the brexit divisions and the pandemic, I think actually we need to lift our horizons a bit.

“As a country we need lifting and I hope in the months and in the four-and-a-half years ahead of us we can do just that.”

Lord Blunkett told the podcast he was particularly encouraged by the government’s handling of the riots and disorder seen across the country in August.

The unrest was born out of false social media speculation surrounding the murder of three girls in Stockport. It resulted in significant disorder, rioting and violence - with some of the worst images seen in Rotherham as rioters, condemned as being far-right, attacked a local hotel which housed more than 200 asylum seekers.

Lord Blunkett said: “The immediate challenge was to stop it in its tracks. There was a real danger of these copy cats and people picking it up.

“[The government] had to energise the justice system. Normally, particularly in August, the criminal justice system wouldn’t have been able to handle [the demand]... We had to say to those in the criminal justice system ‘pull your finger out’.

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“I’d like to think we can learn some lessons from it and restore some semblance of coherence and speed to the criminal justice system more broadly.”

The birth of a political relationship between Keir Starmer and Giorgia Meloni prompted concern in some circles about the Labour leader rubbing shoulders with the hard-right Italian Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister’s visit to Italy brought private Italian investment in the UK, but also British investment in the controversial immigration scheme being run by Meloni - known as the Rome Process.

“When you’re in government you find youself talking to people you never expected to,” Lord Blunkett said of the summit. “There is a a difference between Giorgia Meloni leading a coalition... and dealing with someone like Vladimir Putin.

“Meloni has shifted her stance since she became the head of their coalition and has become very much more reasonable and has played the game within the EU.”

Lord Blunkett says he doesn’t object to the move, adding it “makes sense” to assist countries with the problems rather than having “people losing their lives coming across the Mediterranean or the Channel”.

You can listen to The Sheffield Scoop’s full interview with Lord David Blunkett wherever you get your podcasts.