OPINION - Keir Starmer: I'll protect renters in London from rogue landlords

Walk through any part of this city and you will find the same thing: people working hard, looking out for each other, getting on with it.

That spirit - of effort, grit, and resilience - isn’t coincidental.

It is what London is built on, and it remains its greatest strength.

Just under two years ago, the first Labour government in nearly 15 years took office.

I stood outside Downing Street and promised an end to that status quo.

I promised a government of service to working people.

And a Britain that would tip the balance back in their favour.

And that is exactly what we have begun to deliver.

We said we would make work pay – and we have.

Five million Londoners now benefit from the biggest uplift in workers’ rights in a generation; legislation that has banned exploitative zero-hour contracts and introduced day one rights to statutory sick pay and parental leave.

That is alongside a second boost to the minimum wage, which has put more money into the pockets of 150,000 Londoners.

We said we would stand up for renters – and we have.

This week, new legislation comes into force that ends no-fault evictions, cracks down on unfair rent hikes, and bans bidding wars.

The nearly three million renters living in London can now have more confidence in planning their futures without worrying about what a rogue landlord might mean for them.

Local elections 2026: Starmer slams Polanski's Greens and Farage's Reform UK for false 'shortcuts' to boost London
And we said we would tackle child poverty – not in five or ten years, not with consultations or lip service, but with action, and now.

And we have.

By lifting the two-child cap and extending free school meals, over half a million children will be lifted out of poverty, with nearly half of them right here in London.

The biggest drop in child poverty of any parliament in our history.

Of course, our work is far from done.

I am not naïve to the pressures that families across London are still facing.

I know how the cost of living continues to weigh heavily on every aspect of daily life.

And I know the road ahead is even more important than the one behind us.

But that is exactly why these local elections matter so much.

Because the progress we have already made has not been delivered by national government alone – and the progress we make next will not be decided solely in Westminster.

Time and time again, it is Labour councils , working in partnership with a Labour government, that turn national decisions into real change on the ground here in London.

And, the truth is, when you focus on that delivery, you quickly see there are no shortcuts .

Complex problems require hard work and a plan which puts working people front and centre.

I haven’t shied away from that challenge, and I won’t start now.

But there are those who look to take us down a different path.

And then there is Reform.

They present themselves as the party of working people.

But their plans would see the NHS replaced with an insurance system , forcing people to pay for care - at the very moment families are under pressure.

And beyond that, their approach risks doing something even more damaging: driving a wedge between communities that have always been strongest when they stand together.

That is not who we are as a city.

And it is not who we should become.

That is the choice at these elections .

Not whether we turn Britain around – we are, and we will.

But, instead, how quickly we get there.

Because a vote for any other party risks another hurdle on the path to a Britain truly built for all.

Keir Starmer , Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party