Sir Keir steps up campaign to win back Midlands voters lost to Tories
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he can "make the argument" that his party's priorities are the same as those of voters in the West Midlands.
The Labour leader, who has spent the summer visiting many of the former 'red wall' seats lost to the Tories at the last general election, says the lifting of Covid restrictions had boosted his drive to win back voters.
He said his efforts had so far been hampered by the pandemic, but claimed new policies such as a tough stance on violent crime and anti-social behaviour would help to get voters on board.
Sir Keir spoke to the Express & Star during his first visit to the region since May's disastrous local election results, which saw Labour lose dozens of seats to the Conservatives in the Black Country and Staffordshire.
Reflecting on his 16 months at the helm, he said: "Since I've been leader the pandemic has been the only topic of discussion and it's been really difficult to get out.
"This summer is a good example of us getting out and about and getting our message across.
"What we are doing is demonstrating that our priorities are the same as people in the Black Country, so that's why we are being so strong on crime and anti-social behaviour and about the support that young people need.
"Now we have the chance to make that argument."
Sir Keir reiterated his determination to clamp down on anti-Semitism in Labour, saying he wanted people to be confident they could vote for a party that is "free of anti-Semitism".
"The first thing I said as Labour leader is that I would root out anti-Semitism in our party, and I'm absolutely determined to do that," he said.
"Where individuals or groups are acting inconsistently with that objective, then we have got to take action. I don't want the Labour Party and anti-Semitism to be in the same sentence any more.
"I don't want a party supporter or member knocking on a door in the next general election and being told that the individual won't vote Labour because of anti-Semitism.
"I want our Jewish colleagues to feel that the Labour Party is a safe place for them and the test I set myself is that whether they have confidence in the party under my leadership to return to it and to vote for a Labour Party that is free of anti-Semitism."
During his visit Sir Keir, who was accompanied by Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds and West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, was given a short tour of Wolverhampton city centre before meeting officers at Bilston Street police station.
He said that under his watch Labour had become "the party of law and order" and called for increased funding for youth services as part of plans to tackle violent crime and anti-social behaviour.
He said that despite a Government recruitment drive to put 20,000 new officers on the streets, many police forces were still struggling with the impact of a decade of cuts to police budgets.
Sir Keir said West Midlands Police were battling to contain rising crime in the wake of restrictions ending, with extra officers on the streets and weekends.
"They are doing the best they can with the resources they have got, but they are stretched because they have lost so many officers over the last 10 years," he said.
"Some of what they have been doing, the work on homelessness for example, is really impressive and showing results, but they are constrained by the position the Government has put them in."
Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, has also urged ministers to get a grip on the country's courts backlog, which has seen many criminal trials delayed by more than a year.
"This has been a long-standing problem made worse by Covid - and cases were too slow to start with," he said.
