Labour Party leader Keir Starmer makes his pitch to UK voters with a speech vowing national renewal

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — The leader of the U.K.’s Labour Party has promised to restore Britain’s battered institutions and to end an “age of insecurity” afflicting its people. Keir Starmer addressed the opposition party’s annual conference during what is likely the last such gathering before a national election next year. In a speech that amounted to a public job interview for the post of prime minister, he accused the Conservative Party of governing over 13 years of decline. Labour has been out of office since 2010 but polls now put the fractious party as much as 20 points ahead of the Conservatives. Starmer has managed to unite Labour, but he’s widely seen as managerial and a bit dull.