the days when low pay and cheap labour are part of the British way on growth must end
At the CBI's annual conference in Birmingham, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer stood before Britain's business establishment and offered not reassurance, but a reckoning. With an election on the horizon, he argued that the nation's long reliance on cheap imported labour had become a substitute for genuine economic ambition — and that a different kind of growth, rooted in investment, training, and fair wages, was both possible and necessary. It was a message that challenged the room while seeking its trust.
- The CBI had been lobbying hard for expanded migration to fill labour shortages, but Starmer arrived in Birmingham to tell executives that answer was no longer on the table.
- With Sunak having made the same rejection the day before, a rare cross-party consensus was forming — but Starmer's framing carried a sharper edge, placing the burden of change squarely on business itself.
- He demanded concrete commitments: higher wages, workforce training, better conditions, and investment in technology — framing these not as aspirations but as the price of a Labour government's partnership.
- Threading a political needle, Starmer refused to demonise migrants while rejecting migration dependency, seeking to appeal simultaneously to business confidence and to workers worn down by stagnant pay.
- With an election roughly eighteen months away, the speech was as much an audition as a policy statement — Labour signalling it could govern, but on fundamentally different terms than the era now ending.
Sir Keir Starmer arrived at the Confederation of British Industry's annual conference in Birmingham with a message the assembled executives had not come to hear. Where the CBI had been pressing for wider migration to fuel growth, Starmer said no — and went further, arguing that Britain's dependence on cheap imported labour had itself become the problem.
His core argument was structural: rather than importing workers to fill gaps, companies needed to invest in the people already here. That meant training programmes, better wages, improved conditions, and new technology. He was careful not to close the door entirely on skilled migration, promising pragmatism where it was genuinely needed — but the era of treating low pay as an engine of growth, he said, had to end.
The speech was a calculated act of political positioning. Starmer was not attacking business, but he was rewriting the terms of Labour's relationship with it. Growth, in his framing, had to be built on higher standards — not on cutting corners. Companies wanting a Labour government would need to show they were serious about raising them.
With a general election likely within eighteen months, the Birmingham address was part of a longer argument Starmer was constructing: that Labour could be trusted to govern, that it understood the pressures of competitiveness, but that it would demand something different from employers than the exhausted model of the recent past had ever required.
Sir Keir Starmer walked into the Confederation of British Industry's annual conference in Birmingham on a Tuesday morning with a message that cut against what the business lobby had been asking for. The day before, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had stood at the same podium. Now it was Labour's turn, and Starmer came with a direct challenge to the assembled executives: stop relying on cheap labour from abroad, and start investing in the workers already here.
The CBI had been pressing the government to open the doors wider to migration, arguing that increased immigration was necessary to fuel economic growth. Both Sunak and now Starmer were saying no. But where they might have sounded similar, Starmer's framing was different. He wasn't simply closing the door. He was redefining what British business should expect from itself.
The Labour leader's core argument was that Britain had become too dependent on immigration as a shortcut to growth. Rather than importing workers to fill gaps, companies needed to invest in the people already living in the country—through training programmes, better wages, improved working conditions, and new technology. This wasn't anti-immigration rhetoric dressed up in policy language. Starmer was careful to acknowledge migration's place in British life. He would remain pragmatic about bringing in skilled workers when genuinely needed. But the days of treating low pay and cheap labour as engines of growth had to end, he would say.
What Starmer was laying out was a vision of economic growth built on different foundations. He expected businesses to come forward with concrete plans: higher skills development, more training opportunities, better pay, better conditions, investment in technology. These weren't suggestions. They were conditions. If companies wanted a Labour government, they needed to show they were serious about raising standards rather than cutting corners.
The speech represented a calculated political move. Labour was positioning itself as pro-business—Starmer wasn't attacking capitalism or demanding punitive measures—but on terms that also appealed to working people frustrated by wage stagnation and job insecurity. By rejecting the CBI's call for more migration while simultaneously refusing to demonize migrants, Starmer was trying to thread a needle: appear tough on immigration dependency without appearing xenophobic, while also signalling that a Labour government would demand more from employers than simply keeping wages low.
The timing mattered too. This was November 2022, with a general election likely within eighteen months. Starmer was still building the case for why Labour deserved to govern. Speeches like this one were part of that argument—showing business leaders that Labour could be trusted, that it understood their concerns about growth and competitiveness, but that it would govern differently. The old model, Starmer was saying, was exhausted. What came next would require something else entirely.
Notable Quotes
We will expect you to bring forward a clear plan for higher skills and more training, for better pay and conditions, for investment in new technology— Sir Keir Starmer, addressing the CBI conference
Migration is part of our national story—always has been, always will be. And the Labour Party will never diminish the contribution it makes to the economy, to public services, to your businesses and our communities— Sir Keir Starmer
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Starmer reject the CBI's call for more migration if growth is what everyone wants?
Because he's arguing that chasing growth through cheap labour is a dead end. He's saying businesses have been taking the easy route—hire workers at low wages from abroad rather than invest in training and technology at home.
But isn't that just politics? Telling businesses what they want to hear?
Partly, yes. But there's a real tension here. The CBI wants open borders for labour. Starmer is saying that's not the answer—that it lets companies off the hook from actually improving productivity and wages.
So he's not against immigration?
No. He's explicit about that. Migration is part of Britain's story, he says. But he's drawing a line: skilled workers, yes. But not as a substitute for investing in people already here.
What does he actually expect businesses to do differently?
He's asking for plans—real ones. Higher skills, more training, better pay, better conditions, investment in technology. He's essentially saying: if you want a Labour government, show us you're serious about raising standards, not just cutting costs.
Is this going to work? Will businesses listen?
That depends on whether they believe him. Right now he's making a case. Whether businesses actually change their behaviour depends on what happens if Labour wins power and whether they face real pressure to follow through.