'Decency or division': Britain faces an era-defining choice, says PM

Starmer lambasts Farage in combative speech at Labour conference

- Pippa Crerar Eleni Courea

Keir Starmer has warned that Britain faces an era-defining choice between Labour and the populist right, as he launched a scathing attack on Nigel Farage, saying the Reform UK leader neither "liked or believed in Britain".

In a speech that effectively drew the battle lines for the next general election, the prime minister said the UK stood at a fork in the road where “we can choose decency or we can choose division; renewal or decline”.

While the address at the Labour conference in Liverpool was light on policy, it signalled a notable change in voice for Starmer, who is languishing in the polls and had been urged to set out a clearer vision for the future.

The prime minister will now turn to the difficult economic choices ahead in the autumn budget, which is set to be another politically perilous moment.

"It doesn't get easier from here. And the tough decisions, they will keep on coming," he warned, dismissing calls for a wealth tax.

The chancellor faces the prospect of having to find up to £30bn in tax rises or spending cuts next month.

In an unusually impassioned speech, to a room of flag-waving delegates, Starmer said he was leading a "fight for the soul" of the country against Reform UK, telling those who had not voted for his party "this is your fight too".

Describing Farage as a "snake oil merchant", the prime minister told delegates: "We can all see our country faces a choice.