Under-fire Starmer to urge patience as he attacks hard right

EMBATTLED UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will urge Labour members to keep faith in his plan for Britain when he addresses the party's annual conference in northwestern England yesterday.

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Starmer has only been in power for 14 months, but is already facing questions over his future as Labour struggles to fight off soaring support for the hard-right party Reform UK.

From a stage in Liverpool, he will seek to convince lawmakers that he is the right leader to take on the anti-immigrant upstarts, led by anti-EU firebrand Nigel Farage.

According to excerpts released ahead of his speech, Starmer was to say that Britain "stands at a fork in the road" between "renewal" offered by Labour or "grievance" offered by Reform.

"It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge," he was to tell delegates, urging patience.