Bristol's National Composite Centre was Sir Keir Starmer's platform today

By Nicky Godding

4 January 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, kicked off 2024 with a major speech this morning at the National Composites Centre at Bristol and Bath Science Park in Emersons Green.

He was supporting Labour parliamentary candidate Claire Hazelgrove who hopes to contest the constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke in the next election.

Sir Kier promised a new plan with five new priorities: a reformed planning system to unblock the homes, infrastructure and investment, more police, Labour's already-announced GB Energy, a new public company, using clean British power, new technical excellence colleges for young people to train, better mental health support and a(nother) plan to revitalise the NHS.

It was a speech big on rhetoric, smaller on the detail of how a Labour government will help businesses.

Perhaps for that we could look at the venue he chose: The National Composite Centre. It's industry's research and development partner. When companies need to make things lighter, stronger, smarter and more sustainable they speak to the NCC which has access to advanced technology and the best composites engineering capabilities in the world. It helps its customers solve the most complex engineering challenges of our time - which is what Sir Keir needs to do if he's to fit the UK's economy.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.