Keir Starmer's first Labour Party conference speech as PM fails to address any LGBTQ+ issues
September 26, 2024Starmer's inaugural speech at the Labour Party conference as prime minister addressed numerous subjects, yet notably omitted issues impacting LGBTQ+ individuals.
After toppling Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, Starmer, who assumed office in July, gave his speech on Tuesday, September 24, at the party’s annual gathering in Liverpool.
The prime minister committed to introducing the Hillsborough Law, which would impose a legal duty of candour on public bodies following the 1989 football disaster. He also promised new legislation to combat benefit fraud, pledged to “house all veterans in need [to] repay those who served us,” and announced that the new state-owned company GB Energy will be located in Aberdeen.
Although, as ‘MSN reports’, he didn’t specifically mention LGBTQ+ people or address issues like the increasing hate crime rates and long waiting lists for trans healthcare, the overarching theme of equality of opportunity and acceptance was present throughout his speech.
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Labour aims to make the UK a country that provides an “equal voice to every person” and one “that won’t expect you to change who you are just to get on,” Starmer stated.
“A country that doesn’t just work for you and your family, but one that recognises you, sees you, respects you as part of our story. A Britain that belongs to you.”
Starmer’s speech was not without controversy and interruptions, as was also the case for chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday, September 23.
During his call for “restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel,” and a viral slip where he said “sausages” instead of “hostages,” he was interrupted by a heckler. The man is believed to have protested about children in Gaza before being escorted out.
“This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference,” Starmer commented, humorously alluding to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership period. “While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party. That’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”
Not everyone took this lightheartedly; political commentator Owen Jones described it as “genuinely vile behaviour.”
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