Economic benefits will take some time, says Starmer

Sir Keir set the G7 growth target in early 2023, more than a year before his party returned to power at July's general election. Earlier this month, he announced an additional target to improve living standards, leading to some accusations he was moving the goalposts on what he wanted his government to be judged by. But in his first appearance before the liaison committee of senior MPs since entering Downing Street, Sir Keir insisted he was still committed to getting the UK growing faster other G7 members, which include the US, Germany and Japan, by 2029. When it was pointed out to him that economic forecasts suggested this was not going to happen, he said they had not taken some future policy changes into account. He cited a rise to the legal minimum wage, announced at October's Budget, as an example of how ministers were boosting living standards.