Keir Starmer exclusive: ‘There’s always that challenge of getting good news out there’

Keir Starmer starts by thanking us. ‘It’s a tribute to you, Big Issue, for what you’ve done to make this happen.’ 

We are sitting in No 10 Downing Street, and by “this”, Starmer means the historic Renters’ Rights Act that his government recently made law. It has allowed monumental changes to come into force – changes that Big Issue and other organisations have spent years campaigning to make happen.

An end to no-fault evictions means landlords can no longer kick tenants out without reason. Fixed-term contracts are gone in exchange for rolling contracts. Bidding wars are over. Rents can only be increased once a year. And tenants have a legal right to request to keep a pet.

“I’m proud of the fact that this gives the basic security that I think everybody should have,” Starmer says. “To know that people will feel a bit more secure in the place that they call home, I think that is an amazing thing. For me, it’s about remembering that every single person matters and deserves dignity.”

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We have an audience with the prime minister at a historic moment, as his government faces turmoil and his colleagues are calling for his resignation, in the room where his predecessors once hosted press conferences during the pandemic.

Outside the doors, there is a reception being held where campaigners and activists mingle with influencers who have spoken about housing issues, all there to celebrate the passing of the Renters’ Rights Act. They nibble on canapes in the room which Margaret Thatcher redecorated, a gold leafed ‘Thatcher’ figure peering at them from the walls.

Asked whether he worries that the positive changes have been overwhelmed by other stories in the media and the rigmarole of politics, Starmer replies: “I think there’s always that challenge of getting the good news out there. But we can keep doing it.

“We’ve had a fantastic event here today. We’ve got lots of people who want to amplify the message because they’ve been campaigning for it for a very long time. They want that cut through. There will be cut through in the sense that millions of people will realise: ‘Actually, do you know what? I’ve got more power here.’ 

“We’ve tilted the balance to tenants, those in rented accommodation. It gets out in all those different ways. But yeah, every minute we’re not talking about things like security of home and a place where people can feel safe and secure, it is a wasted minute in my view.”

Read more:

• Renters’ Rights Act: Labour’s landmark rental reforms receive royal assent and finally become law
• Four ways Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill differs from the Tories’ doomed Renters Reform Bill
• Keir Starmer might not have ‘rizz’ – but maybe we should give him a chance

Although not directly addressing what his legacy will look like, Starmer says that the Renters’ Rights Act is exactly the kind of change he had hoped to be able to introduce as prime minister.

“As a member of parliament, at least half of my inbox is all about housing and a lot of it’s about renting. The proportion of people that this will affect, there’s millions of people across the country. We came into power to change lives for the better. And with this act, we’ve been able to do it. 

“And look, you’ve been campaigning on it. Big Issue has been campaigning on it. None of this is without a fight. It’s a fight with lots of people saying that won’t work, saying this’ll cause the following problems. And you have to push through that. And so I’m really pleased that we’ve done it.”

Starmer agrees that changes like this are what the Labour Party should be about.

“If we hold on to values like every single child should be able to go as far as their talent or ability will take them, that is only true if they’ve got somewhere secure to live. This is, of course, about a roof over your head, but actually, for me, it’s bigger than that. Is this a base camp for your aspirations and opportunity? That is so Labour. If you cut it open, it would have Labour written right through it.” 

There remain concerns around the affordability of rent, which some campaigners have argued the Renters’ Rights Act does not go far enough to address, particularly as the cost of living rises amid global conflicts.

Starmer points out that there are ways the Act will address affordability of rent. The end to bidding wars will mean that landlords can no longer force potential tenants into competition over who can pay more rent. 

It also limits a landlord’s ability to hike up the rent whenever they please.

“So many young people say to me, because they are paying so much of their income in rent, they can’t afford to save up a deposit or something like that to get a house. And so it’s holding them back in a broader way,” Starmer says.

After the devastating results of the local election for Starmer, where Labour lost nearly 1,500 seats and Reform UK picked up more than 1,450 seats, experts told Big Issue that Labour will have a greater chance of winning the general election if it properly tackles poverty and the cost of living.

Does Starmer agree? “Totally. If you were to go across the country into pretty much every household and say ‘What’s the number one issue for you?’, the vast majority will say the cost of living. And that is why it’s very important politics that we’re clear, who do you have in your mind’s eye when you’re making decisions? 

“I have in my mind’s eye the people who are struggling with the cost of living, the people who are worried that they’re not going to make ends meet month to month, particularly when their bills are going up, or they can’t take the holidays they really wanted with their children, they can’t do the days out they wanted. These are not small things because this is what it is to be alive, to enjoy life. And so we have to focus on the cost of living.”

Starmer says he is pleased his government has been able to expand free school meals to all children in families who are receiving universal credit, as well as secure an end to the two-child limit on benefits, a move that will see hundreds of thousands of children lifted out of poverty.

“That will be measured not just in the months or years of any given government, but for the lifetimes of these children, and that’s hugely important,” he says.

His government faced significant controversy over the cuts to the winter fuel payment and its plans for disability benefit cuts, which were set to plunge vulnerable people into poverty. Ministers U-turned on both these changes, except for cuts still made to the health element of universal credit, but perhaps the damage was done, with voters losing trust in Starmer’s Labour government.

Before he was elected, Starmer told Big Issue he wanted to make it his “moral mission” to tackle poverty. 

Lord John Bird, founder of Big Issue, has been campaigning for the government to introduce legally binding targets to reduce levels of poverty in parliament. Starmer isn’t to be held to targets but he repeats his statement that this is a “moral mission” and adds that it is important to focus on prevention of poverty and homelessness.

“We also need to see the human being behind the statistic,” he says.

Some of those people behind the statistics are our Big Issue vendors, who work tirelessly to sell magazines and provide themselves with a route out of poverty. Does Starmer have a local Big Issue vendor? 

“Not so much here in Downing Street,” he says (security is admittedly tight), “but in Kentish Town, where I represent and where we lived for many, many years and where our children grew up, we had a Big Issue vendor on the High Street. She was a feature of the High Street, and she was a woman that everybody got to know.”

Starmer’s days in Downing Street may or may not be numbered, but Big Issue will continue to campaign for change and stand up for the millions of people in this country living in poverty and bearing the brunt of the housing crisis – no matter who is in charge.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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