Keir Starmer's Commitment to Change
Keir Starmer has pledged to demonstrate progress and silence critics following significant election setbacks for his party. In a speech aimed at preventing a leadership challenge, the prime minister acknowledged his responsibility for delivering the promised changes toward a stronger and fairer Britain.
In December 2024, Starmer outlined several "measurable milestones" focusing on housing construction, hospital waiting times, and living standards. This report examines the government's progress against these targets.
Building Houses
Starmer's government aims to build 1.5 million "safe and decent homes" in England by the end of the current Parliament in 2029. Progress is tracked by net additional dwellings, defined as the number of houses and flats built or converted minus those demolished.
There is no specified annual target, but achieving 1.5 million homes over the Parliament would require an average of 300,000 homes per year. Currently, Labour is delivering just over 200,000 new homes annually.
Government officials have indicated that the pace of construction will increase in the later years of the Parliament. However, the current delivery rate is lower than in the final years of the previous Conservative government.
Additional challenges include rising costs of building materials and increased energy expenses linked to the Iran war, which may complicate efforts to meet the target.
Official figures for the year ending March 2025 will be released in November 2025. Meanwhile, BBC Verify's housebuilding tracker uses the number of new homes receiving their first Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) as a more immediate indicator, with data published about a month after each quarter ends.
Hospital Waiting Lists
In healthcare, the government has committed to ensuring that 92% of patients in England are seen within 18 weeks by the end of the Parliament. Recent data show some progress toward this goal.
As of February 2026, 62.6% of patients awaiting procedures were seen within 18 weeks, up from 58.8% when Labour assumed power in July 2024.
The government has set an interim target of 65% by March 2026, with updated figures expected on Thursday, 14 May 2026. The 92% target was last achieved in 2015.
Waiting list statistics are typically published about six weeks after the end of each month. A tracker is available for monitoring waiting times locally.
Living Standards
Starmer's administration has committed to "raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom." The government uses real household disposable income (RHDI) per person as a key metric, which reflects income after taxes, benefits, and inflation.
Between 2019 and 2024, RHDI per person did not grow, marking the first such occurrence since the 1950-51 Parliament, according to the Resolution Foundation. However, in the first year of the current government (2024-25), RHDI per person increased by 3.1%.
Forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), published in March 2026 shortly after the onset of the Iran war, predict much slower growth: 0.1% for 2025-26 and approximately 0.5% annually over the subsequent five years.
Another indicator used is GDP per head, representing the economy's size divided by the population. The Office for National Statistics reported a 1.1% increase in 2025 after no growth in 2024.
RHDI figures are released about three months after each quarter ends, while GDP per capita data are published roughly six weeks after each quarter.
Police Numbers
The government has pledged to "put police back on the beat" by adding 13,000 officers, police community support officers (PCSOs), and volunteer special constables in neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament.
The Home Office has not provided a detailed breakdown but stated it will collaborate with police forces to determine the appropriate mix of roles.
Neighbourhood policing figures published in April 2026, measuring growth from 31 March 2025, indicate that the first-year target of 2,972 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) officers and PCSOs was surpassed in January 2026, reaching 3,123 by 28 February 2026.
Despite this, the overall number of police officers has declined. On 30 September 2025, there were 145,550 FTE police officers in England and Wales, a decrease of 2,195 compared to 31 March 2024, shortly before Labour took office.
Neighbourhood police numbers as of 31 March 2026 will be published in July 2026.
Early Years Education
The government aims for 75% of five-year-olds in England to be ready to learn upon starting school. This readiness is defined as achieving a "good level of development" in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment, which evaluates areas such as language, personal, social, emotional development, and literacy and numeracy skills.
Department for Education data indicate that in the 2024-25 school year, 68.3% of children in England met this standard, a slight increase from 67.7% the previous year.
Data for the 2025-26 school year will be published in November 2026.
Clean Power
The government has committed to achieving "at least 95% clean power by 2030," a revision from the election manifesto pledge of "zero-carbon electricity by 2030."
In November 2024, the National Energy System Operator (NESO), the government's independent system planner for the energy transition, concluded that building, connecting, and operating a clean power system for Great Britain by 2030 is possible but would be "at the limit of what is feasible."
In 2025, clean energy sources accounted for 73.3% of electricity generation in Great Britain, slightly lower than the previous year.
Data on the proportion of UK electricity generated from low-carbon sources are published quarterly in the Energy Trends report, released on the last Thursday of each quarter, covering the previous quarter.
Additional reporting by Daniel Wainwright, William Dahlgreen, Mark Poynting, Gerry Georgieva, and Tamara Kovacevic.
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