Keir Starmer, the leader of the U.K. opposition, brushed off an unexpected onstage protest to make a pitch that his party could rebuild the country after 13 years of Conservative rule.
The opposition party took back a parliamentary seat from the Scottish National Party, in a win that observers said showed a path to power in next year’s general election.
The British prime minister said he would pull the plug on a costly but potentially transformative line to Manchester that was a cornerstone of his party’s pledge to “level up” the north of England.
The British prime minister is trying to redefine himself as a conviction politician, leaning into the newly potent issue of meeting climate goals without raising costs for hard-pressed Britons.