What Keir Starmer did at Davos
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves gave a pre-Davos interview to the FT before setting off to woo the global elite in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum in a remarkable turnround in Labour sentiment. Why were they going, with what message, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chose to go to Morecambe instead? And what do the financial titans make of the UK’s prospects? Plus, we discuss the UK’s controversial plans for a bonfire of more than 4,000 EU rules that would put huge power in ministers’ hands, unleash regulatory uncertainty and is causing dismay among businesses.
Presented by George Parker, with deputy political editor Jim Pickard, markets editor Katie Martin, public policy editor Peter Foster and special guest Professor Catherine Barnard of UK in a Changing Europe. Produced by Anna Dedhar and Manuela Saragosa. The sound engineer was Breen Turner
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The global elite met in the Swiss Alps for the World Economic Forum this week, and there |
| 0:06.0 | to deliver the message at Davos that Britain is open for business, wasn't the UK Prime |
| 0:10.0 | Minister Rissi Sunak, but rather the opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. |
| 0:15.0 | I think our Prime Minister should have showed out, should there be a change of government |
| 0:18.0 | I hope there will be, the United Kingdom will play its part on the global stage. |
| 0:25.4 | Welcome to Payne's Politics, your essential insider guide to Westminster from the Financial |
| 0:30.0 | Times, with me George Parker holding the fort for a few weeks until we relaunch the pod |
| 0:35.5 | with an exciting new format. In this week's episode, we'll first be looking at Starmer's |
| 0:40.6 | message to the titans of global finance, and how Britain and its economic prospects were |
| 0:45.5 | viewed by the Davos elite. Deputy political editor Jim Picard is in London, and Katie |
| 0:50.9 | Martin, the FT's market's editor, has her snow boots on in the Alps. Meanwhile at Westminster, |
| 0:57.7 | controversial plans for a bomb fire of EU rules, around 4,000 of them from the UK statue |
| 1:03.8 | book was being debated by MPs. It's a bit of a mess, and business isn't happy. |
| 1:09.3 | Peter Foster, our public policy editor, and Professor Catherine Barnard of UK and |
| 1:13.8 | a changing Europe are here to explain what all the fuss is about. So Keir Starmer gave an |
| 1:19.3 | interview to the FT before heading for Davos, in which he lacerated the Brexit deal negotiated |
| 1:24.2 | by Boris Johnson, and promised to improve relations with the EU. Richie Sunak in the Commons |
| 1:30.3 | reminded Starmer that he'd previously backed a second EU referendum and free movements, |
| 1:35.6 | but now changed his mind. Mr Speaker, if we are going to deliver for the British people, |
| 1:42.1 | people need to have strong convictions, but when it comes to the honourable gentleman, |
| 1:46.5 | he isn't just for the free movement of people. He's also got the free movement of principles. |
| 1:55.4 | Here with me in the studio is the FT's deputy political editor, Jim Picard, |
... |
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