New British Prime Minister Starmer says controversial Rwandan deportation plan is ‘dead and buried’

The press conference followed his first cabinet meeting as the new government faces the daunting challenge of tackling a host of domestic problems and winning over a population weary of years of austerity, political chaos and a battered economy.

Welcoming the new ministers to the table at 10 Downing Street, Starmer said it was the greatest honour of his life to be asked by King Charles III to form a government at a ceremony where he was officially appointed prime minister.

“We have a huge amount of work to do, so let’s get on with our work now,” he said.

Starmer’s Labour Party dealt the Conservatives the biggest blow in their 200-year history on Friday with a landslide victory based on their programme for change.

Among the many problems they face are reviving the sluggish economy, fixing the broken health care system and restoring trust in the government.

“Just because Labour won a landslide victory does not mean that all the problems facing the Conservative government have gone away,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

In his first remarks as prime minister on Friday after the “kissing of hands” ceremony with Charles at Buckingham Palace, Starmer said he would get to work immediately but warned it would take time to see results.

“Changing a country is not like flicking a switch,” he said as enthusiastic supporters cheered him outside his new home at 10 Downing Street. “It will take a while. But make no mistake, the work of change begins – and it begins immediately.”

He will have a busy schedule after the six-week campaign across the four countries of the United Kingdom.

He will travel to Washington next week for a NATO meeting and will host the summit of the European Political Community on July 18, a day after the opening of Parliament and the King’s speech setting out the new government’s agenda.

Starmer highlighted several big issues on Friday, including overhauling the respected but ailing National Health Service (NHS) and securing its borders – a reference to the larger global problem in Europe and the US of accommodating an influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty, but also drought, heatwaves and floods caused by climate change.

The Conservatives have struggled to stem the flow of migrants across the Channel, failing to deliver on former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s promise to “stop the boats”, leading to the controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

“Labour needs to find a solution for the small boats crossing the Channel,” Bale said. “It will abandon the Rwanda programme, but it will have to find other solutions to solve this particular problem.”

Suella Braverman, a Conservative immigration hardliner who could potentially succeed Sunak as party leader, criticised Starmer’s plan to abandon the Rwanda pact.

“Years of hard work, parliamentary decisions, millions of pounds spent on a programme that, if implemented properly, would have worked,” she said on Saturday. “There are big problems looming which I fear are being caused by Keir Starmer.”

Starmer’s cabinet is also getting to work.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy was due to make his first overseas trip on Saturday to meet his counterparts in Germany, Poland and Sweden and underline the importance of their relations.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he would begin new negotiations next week with early-career NHS doctors who have staged a series of multi-day strikes. The pay dispute has exacerbated the long waiting times for appointments that have become a hallmark of the NHS’s problems.