Controversy over his support for Israel in the Israel-Hamas war, which began during his tenure as opposition leader and led to Labour losing several seats in the election, continued into his premiership despite Starmer calling for a ceasefire.
This culminated in a petition calling for an early general election on the UK Parliament website being started in November 2024 by publican and Conservative voter Michael Westwood, who said he launched it because he believed the Labour government had "gone back on the promises" the party made.
[12] He further set six key milestones that he promised his government would reach by 2029: The full plan was presented to the UK Parliament later the same day as a command paper.
[15] Starmer also announced that implementation of the reforms aimed for by the speech would be led by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden and Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald.
"[20] Kate McCann of the i stated that Starmer's speech would face difficulties in convincing the public given that he "has inherited a country where patience for politicians has already hit rock bottom," suggesting that the speech may have been aimed towards the civil service instead, saying that "the most important thing to take away is: the message to the country may sound samey, but the message to Whitehall could not have been clearer – shape up or we'll force you to.
[25] Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the speech, saying "Costly plans for energy decarbonisation watered-down – while poor pensioners lose their winter fuel payments.