Starmer woos business with promise to use ‘white heat of technology’ to deliver growth

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Keir Starmer is to evoke the memory of Labour’s 1960s prime minister Harold Wilson with a promise to use the “white heat of technology” to deliver an economy that works for all. In a speech in the four-time election-winner’s home town, Huddersfield, Sir Keir will quote his predecessor’s famous dictum in the latest step of his drive to reposition Labour as the party of business and growth. “A political party without a clear plan for making sure businesses are successful and growing, which doesn’t want them to do well and make a profit, has no hope of being a successful government.” But he will also risk alienating businesses who are reeling from the additional costs and red tape resulting from leaving the EU by repeating his pledge to “take advantage of the opportunities of Brexit”. “And from the proceeds of that growth we will build a new economy and a new Britain – one based on security, prosperity and respect for all.” Echoing Wilson, he will say: “Our country and our economy are entirely different now, but we too are going through the white heat.