Asked whether he could rule out budget cuts to departments, Sir Keir Starmer replied: “On public services, I’m a massive believer in public services. I gave up five years of my life out of practice as a lawyer in order to run a public service, which was the Crown Prosecution Service.

“So I do care about, I believe in public services, and I know a thing or two about the constraints of delivering in public services, and I’m certainly not in the business of cutting the funding which is why the focus is so much on growth. What I would say, though, is we must never forget that our public services need reform.”

Challenged on how people’s lives will be better after two years of a Labour government, Sir Keir said: “Higher living standards, felt across the country, giving people hope. A sense that we have a direction as a country, a sense that we’ve got a government that wants to bring people together and has got a clear idea of where it’s going. A sense that we’ve got economic growth, which is living standards raised.

“A sense that the change we’ve got to make with energy is not just an obligation, a millstone around our neck, but a huge opportunity… A sense that the health service, which most people are anxious about, will it last any longer, is in good hands and is going to be there for decades to come. A sense that young people have opportunities under a Labour government that they don’t have at the moment.”