Britain's new Labour Party government promised to calm the country's febrile politics and ease its cost-of-living crisis as it set out its plans for "national renewal" at the grand State Opening of Parliament.
Labour won a landslide election victory on July 4 as voters turned on the Conservatives after years of high inflation, ethics scandals and a revolving door of prime ministers. Economic measures included tighter rules governing corporations and a law to ensure all government budgets get advance independent scrutiny.
Though Starmer eschewed large-scale nationalisation of industries, the government plans to take the delay-plagued train operators into public ownership.Gary Smith, leader of the GMB union, called the speech a "breath of fresh air". The speech included new measures to strengthen border security, creating a beefed-up Border Security Command with counter-terrorism powers to tackle people-smuggling gangs.