2024 General Election: Tory MP Lucy Allen suspended after backing Reform candidate

Sir Keir Starmer said his background had also shaped his politics “in a deeper way”.

“Politics has always been something that happened far away, and yet something more profound has changed over the last 14 years of Tory government. People now feel that more and more decisions affecting their community are not only being made by people who live miles away, but who also have little empathy for their challenges.

“A policy that, at best, harms people who are not on its side and, at worst – as we saw in appalling detail in Westminster last week – these two injustices – the Horizon and the infected blood scandals – is something much, much worse.

“It’s about respect, or more accurately, the lack of it… For a long time, working people have believed they have no opportunities in Britain. But now we are at a dangerous turning point and are about to cross a Rubicon of trust, not just in politics but in many of the institutions that are supposed to serve and protect the British people.”

Sir Keir added: “When you combine that with a Government which in 14 years has left living standards in this country worse than they found them, which has destroyed any semblance of standards in public life, with parties in Westminster which have broken the rules they set up to save lives and which they expected people to follow, you have a crisis which concerns nothing less than our identity as a nation. The values ​​which have held us together, which have taken us through difficult times to our greatest achievements, are being marginalised by these Tories.

“Healing these wounds is the meaning of national renewal. Politics must be about service. Britain must be a country that respects your contribution. Everyone, not just those at the top, deserves the chance to get ahead. These are the ideas I am fighting for. This is my project, a Britain that is back at the service of working people, country first, party second.”