Voters react to Starmer's speech - as battle lines between Labour and Reform emerge | ITV News

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People in Sheffield and Bolsover react to the Prime Minister's conference speech in which he set out a "fork in the road" decision between Labour and Reform. The prime minister has delivered his keynote speech to MPs and party faithful on the third day of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. It was a conference that began with the introduction of the Hillsborough law, and as it drew to a close, Starmer was introduced to the stage by Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall. Hailing the PM's work to champion their cause and progress the law, Ms Aspinall said: "Today, I've got to be truthful, I've met a prime minister who's kept his promise." After a year that Starmer admitted had involved difficult decisions, the prime minister used his speech to make several more. His speech came at a crucial time in his premiership, with a party conference that, at times, has been dominated by questions over his leadership and the direction the Labour Party is taking. Admitting these difficulties, Starmer made a plea for unity over division, as he sought to reclaim the language of patriotism from the political right. It was, the PM said, a "fight for the soul of the country," adding: "Britain is built for all." The prime minister framed the difficulties facing the country as a binary choice, one between "decency" or "division," going on to say the UK could choose "Renewal or decline. A country proud of its values, in control of its future, or one that succumbs, against the grain of our history to the politics of grievance." Invoking wartime spirit, Starmer went further, claiming this was a "fight for the soul of the country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war." If the politics of populism are sometimes framed as easy answers to complex questions, the PM made clear the "path of renewal" would not be such. "It's long, it's difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy." Taking aim at the politics of parties like Reform, Starmer admitted, "it's a tempting path because it asks nothing of people." • Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2lOHmNj • Get breaking news and more stories at http://www.itv.com/news Follow ITV News on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@itvnews?lang=en Follow ITV News on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itvnews/ Follow ITV News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itvnews/ Follow ITV News on X: https://twitter.com/itvnews