Starmer ‘eyeing his legacy after accepting premiership is at an end’

Inside Downing Street there is a belated radicalism. Keir Starmer has insisted publicly that he wants a decade as prime minister but those close to him say he has accepted in recent days that his time in No 10 is almost certainly coming to an end and is determined to secure a legacy.

Others say the alternative visions being set out by Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting are prompting Starmer to put caution aside. “There’s definitely a feeling that we need to get on and do big stuff,” a No 10 source said. “No point in dilly-dallying around.”

One sign of the new mood in Downing Street is a more ambitious approach to negotiations with the European Union. Ministers have proposed creating a single market for goods to reintegrate British trade into Europe.

The plan has been rejected by Brussels but the pitch shows the prime minister’s willingness to be bold in seeking to put the UK at the “heart of Europe”. He is determined to get a youth mobility scheme over the line ahead of the UK-EU summit in July.

Starmer is also poised to back a ban on social media for under-16s, following a consultation that ends on Tuesday. The prime minister, who previously said he was not personally in favour of blocking younger teenagers from platforms including Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X and Snapchat, has now been convinced that tougher action is required to protect children.

The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, the work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, and the former Labour deputy prime minister Harriet Harman – Starmer’s new adviser on women and girls – are among those who have been pushing him to support a ban in order to give clarity to parents and children. “If we do anything else people are going to say it isn’t good enough,” a No 10 source said.

Radical action is being planned to tackle a youth unemployment crisis that has left almost a million young people not in education employment or training (Neet).

On Thursday the former cabinet minister Alan Milburn will publish the initial findings of his investigation into the problem. He told The Observer that a total “reset” of the state was required to regain public trust in mainstream politics.

His review identified 314,000 “hidden Neets” who have no contact with the government despite there being at least 50 programmes run by 17 organisations to overcome economic activity. The public sector is “a spaghetti soup of total and utter chaos and confusion”, Milburn said. “It’s staggering in its dysfunctionality.”

The prime minister has had a bruising fortnight following after results for Labour in English local elections and Scottish and Welsh elections. Streeting quit the cabinet and criticised the “vacuum” and “drift” at the top of the government. Burnham launched his campaign for the Makerfield byelection declaring he wanted to “change Labour”.

One adviser said the challenge to Starmer’s leadership had made the prime minister more willing to take risks. “Near-death experiences change the way people look at life,” they said.

Another senior Labour source suggested the recognition that he may have only a few more weeks in No 10 has had a galvanising effect on the prime minister. There is a new sense of urgency in Downing Street as Starmer seeks to achieve lasting change in a few key areas. “He knows it’s probably over,” one ally says. “He’s not sure when but he knows it’s very unlikely he is going to fight the next election. That’s liberating in a way. He can finally put the Ming vase down.”

The prime minister is keen to finalise details of an £18bn increase in defence spending, following months of delays and internal rows between the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence. However, a No 10 source said this was still a “work in progress”.

Keir’s beers

Harold Wilson declared after England’s 1966 victory that “we only win the World Cup under a Labour government”.

Now Downing Street is hoping “Keir’s beers” may boost the prime minister’s political fortunes during this year’s tournament, which begins next month.

No 10 is considering making it easier for pubs and bars to serve “pavement pints” while the tournament is on. One option is to temporarily suspend the need for an outdoor license, as happened during the pandemic.

The government has already announced that licensing hours will be extended for England and Scotland matches in the knock-out stages. Pubs will be able to stay open until 1am for games that kick off between 5pm and 9pm and until 2am for kick-offs between 9pm and 10pm to take account of the time difference. The World Cup is being played in cities in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Starmer, who is in Chequers this weekend, will watch his team Arsenal play Crystal Palace today. “Keir is a proper football fan,” one friend said. “He was texting everyone when Arsenal won the Premier League. He would have loved to be with the crowd around the Emirates after the match.”

Photograph by Antonio Olmos for the Observer