British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he is reversing his predecessor’s controversial policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, although he warned it would not happen soon.
“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” Starmer said at his first press conference since the Labor Party ousted the Conservatives from power after 14 years.
The 30-minute question-and-answer session followed his first cabinet meeting as his new government takes on the massive challenge of fixing a raft of domestic problems and winning over a public weary of years of austerity, political chaos and a battered economy.
“We have a lot of work to do, so now we get on with our work,” Starmer told reporters.
It is known that the Starmer Cabinet has a record number of women – 11 out of 25 ministers, AP writes, Telegraph reports.
“I’m proud of the fact that we have people around the Cabinet table who haven’t had the easiest start in life,” Starmer said.
Among the many problems they must tackle are boosting a sluggish economy, fixing a health care system and restoring trust in government.
“Just because Labor won a big landslide doesn’t mean all the problems facing the Conservative government have gone away,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
Starmer in his first words as prime minister singled out some of the big issues, such as overhauling the National Health Service, securing the UK’s borders, the flow of migrants fleeing war, poverty as well as drought, heatwaves and flooding attributed to climate change.
Otherwise, Starmer will have a busy schedule after the six-week campaign.
He leaves on Sunday to visit each of the four countries of the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
He plans to meet with metropolitan mayors, regardless of party.
He will then travel to Washington for a NATO meeting and host the European Political Community summit on July 18, a day after the state opening of Parliament and the king’s speech, which sets out the new government’s agenda.
