LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday it would take a long time to rebuild Britain and rid it of the rot he says took hold under the previous Conservative government, warning “things will get worse before they get better.”
Starmer, elected in a July landslide election victory, has vowed to rebuild the fabric of British society, saying this month’s anti-migrant riots reflected the divisions that built up during the Conservative Party’s 14 years in power.
He made his speech in the Rose Garden at Downing Street, where former prime minister Boris Johnson held one of many parties during COVID lockdowns, events that Starmer said shattered the trust between the public and its politicians.
“We have inherited not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole and that is why we have to take action and do things differently. Part of that is being honest with people about the choices we face and how tough this will be,” he said.
“Frankly, things will get worse before we get better.”
Addressing an audience of people he met during this year’s election campaign such as apprentices, teachers, nurses and small business owners, Starmer said change would not happen overnight.
But, speaking a week before Britain’s parliament returns from a summer break, he said his government was determined to tackle a multitude of problems ranging from overflowing prisons to a shortage of housing and long waiting lists for health services.
The former director of public prosecutions was forced to cancel his summer holiday this month to tackle far-right riots that targeted Muslims and migrants. The riots began after the killings of three young girls in northern England was wrongly blamed on a Muslim migrant based on online misinformation.
Starmer said the Conservative government’s failure to tackle problems, and its focus on the “snake oil” of populism, had widened cracks in society, divisions that would take time to heal.
UK’s Starmer says things will get worse before they get better
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UK’s Starmer says things will get worse before they get better
- Starmer vowed to rebuild the fabric of British society after anti-migrant riots
- Government determined to tackle a multitude of problems ranging from overflowing prisons to a shortage of housing and long waiting lists for health services
IAEA board meets over Ukraine nuclear safety concerns
- The war in Ukraine “continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety,” Grossi said
- The mission will assess 10 substations “crucial to nuclear safety,” according to Grossi
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors on Friday discussed nuclear safety in Ukraine, with several countries expressing “growing concern” following Russian attacks on the power grid.
Energy supplies to Ukraine’s nuclear plants have been affected as Russia has pounded its neighbor’s power sector since the start of its 2022 invasion, prompting fears of a nuclear disaster.
The war in Ukraine “continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said when opening the board meeting.
The extraordinary meeting that lasted four hours was called after 13 countries led by the Netherlands expressed in a letter seen by AFP a “growing concern about the severity and urgency of nuclear safety risks” following a series of attacks.
Ukrainian ambassador Yurii Vitrenko told reporters before the meeting that it was “high time” for the IAEA board to discuss the situation.
A weeks-long IAEA expert mission to Ukrainian substations and power plants is under way and expected to wrap up next month, Vitrenko said.
The mission will assess 10 substations “crucial to nuclear safety,” according to Grossi.
Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov dismissed the board’s gathering as “absolutely politically motivated,” adding there was “no real need to hold such a meeting today.”
Last week, Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power.
Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, has also been repeatedly affected by fighting.
Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a localized ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup power line supplying Zaporizhzhia.
The line was damaged and disconnected as a result of military activity in early January.
The Zaporizhzhia plant’s six reactors have been shut down since the occupation. But the site still needs electricity to maintain its cooling and security systems.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear catastrophe by attacking the site.
