Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has been in Plymouth today as part of a campaign trip, having met Luke Pollard MP for dinner yesterday evening. Sir Keir has come to Plymouth ahead of next month’s local elections, and will spend today making a number of visits to local workers as well as knocking on doors.

Sir Keir talked to students and staff at City College Plymouth earlier today, before meeting workers at Devonport Dockyards and representatives of the trade union GMB. Labour have pledged to protect jobs which depend upon the defence supply chain, and Sir Keir’s visit comes as the party leader pledges to back the ‘Buy British’ campaign, which will provide greater security to UK jobs by favouring British defence manufacturers rather than purchasing military goods from overseas. 

The Labour leader has also stated that supporting Plymouth Labour’s local election campaign is a priority during his visit. Sir Keir told PlymouthLive today:

There’s no substitute for coming out and coming to talk to people in Plymouth. Coming to the college and seeing the skilled work that’s going on going on in Devonport here and understanding the challenges of the future, and being able to say when questioned what will you do about it to answer and say build British by default.

 

That’s what people want to hear, that you’re prepared to invest long-term in places like Plymouth. Plymouth has huge skills and fantastic history, it can have and will have a fantastic future.

This is not the first time that Sir Keir, who celebrated his anniversary as Labour Party leader last Sunday, has visited Plymouth during his campaign travels. Luke Pollard MP tweeted:

https://twitter.com/LukePollard/status/1379744870735216640

The pair marked Sir Keir’s arrival last night by going for fish and chips from a takeaway on the waterfront near Plymouth’s quayside. Luke said:

Keir is a regular visitor to Plymouth and this is his second visit since becoming Labour leader.

 

No trip to Plymouth would be complete without fish and chips on The Barbican. Ahead of a big day of visits tomorrow it’s important to get a good dinner.