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Keir Starmer is vowing to counter Conservative attacks in what is proving to be a painful campaign
Keir Starmer has vowed to fight “fire with fire” against Conservative attacks this year, setting up what is likely to be one of the longest and most painful general election campaigns in modern history.
The Labor leader said on Thursday he would not shy away from aggressive campaign tactics, just hours after Sunak indicated he planned to go to the polls in the second half of the year.
“If the government wants to fill its attacks with fire, we will meet their fire with fire because there is so much at stake for working people in this election,” Starmer told Sky News after his New Year’s Day address in Bristol. “They will sink. What I’m saying is, if they want to go into this election with fire, we’re going to meet their fire with fire.”
Labor and the Conservatives are stepping up their attacks on each other ahead of the upcoming election campaign. On Thursday, Sunak gave his clearest hint yet about the election date, saying it was his “working assumption” that he would call it later in the year, after weeks of speculation that he might do so in May instead.
“I want to carry on, manage the economy well and cut people’s taxes, but I also want to continue to tackle illegal migration,” Sunak said. “I still have a lot to do and I am determined to continue making a difference for the British people.”
Labor officials dismissed Sunak's comments as misleading and insisted they would continue planning for a spring election. “Nothing has changed,” said a senior party official. “Sunak doesn’t want to get involved. But if my son told me that he expected to do his homework today, I wouldn’t take it seriously.”
Starmer accused the prime minister of “sitting around in Downing Street for months, hesitating and hesitating while the country wants change”.
“We are ready for a general election, I think the country is ready for a general election,” he told the BBC. “The Prime Minister is now suggesting, without specifying a date, that it could be later in the year. What is he hiding? Why can’t he set a date?”
But Conservative MPs believe Sunak is serious about waiting almost until the last minute to call a vote that could lead to his ouster from Downing Street. “I think he’s right to push it,” one said. “Yes, things are likely to get worse next year. But still, one does not walk towards certain death – even if there is the prospect of an even worse death in the future.”
Senior Tory sources said the party had not even set a deadline for completing its manifesto, adding further weight to Sunak's claims of aiming for an autumn election.
Rishi Sunak, pictured visiting schools on Thursday, hinted he would call an election in the autumn. Photo: Jacob King/AFP/Getty Images
Labor enters the election year with an 18-point lead in the polls, but there are still big questions about how it would govern if elected. Party officials are arguing over key policy issues, such as whether to stick to their promise to spend £28 billion a year on green investment by the end of the next parliament.
Starmer on Thursday defended the party's Green credentials but admitted the £28bn pledge would be at risk if it stopped Labor from cutting the national debt. He added that the party's main goal is to decarbonise the UK's energy sector by 2030, although experts doubt this can be achieved without the major public investment previously promised by the party.
The Labor leader added that his government would bring hope to an “oppressed” country, adding: “To truly defeat this miserabilistic Tory project we must crush their politics of division and decline with a new project of hope. “
But his later comments about the tone of the campaign hint at the intensity of the political attacks that are likely to be at the forefront in the coming year. Starmer said in his speech he expected the Conservatives to unleash a “gauntlet of fear” ahead of the election.
The Tories have combed through Starmer's career as a human rights lawyer and director of public prosecutions to find material against him. Recent press reports have focused on how Starmer acted for radical cleric Abu Qatada in 2008 as he tried to avoid deportation to Jordan and how he defended a convicted arsonist accused of terrorizing his family.
The Conservatives were also keen to highlight issues of culture and identity, including asylum and transgender rights, in order to put Labor on the wrong side of public opinion.
Meanwhile, Starmer defended a Labor ad last year that accused Sunak of not supporting the imprisonment of adults convicted of child sexual abuse. David Blunkett, the former Labor home secretary, described the attack as “gutter politics”.
The attacks have become so intense that Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, recently urged political leaders to avoid divisive tactics. “We must say: 'My opponent is never my enemy.' My opponent is always my fellow human being. “We disagree deeply, we disagree on incredibly important things, but they are human,” he told the BBC in December.
Starmer will now spend the next few weeks touring the country, holding question-and-answer sessions in a number of mid-sized cities as he takes his pitch to the country, while Sunak will hold a similar event in the North West on Friday.
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