The Labor leader wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that he advocated “common sense, practical solutions over ideological purity” and that “as summer turns to autumn, the shadows of crisis are lengthening and looming across the country”. Liz Truss is expected to defeat Rishi Sunak on Monday, taking power in Downing Street the next day amid soaring energy bills and a worsening cost of living crisis. Starmer wrote: “The appointment of a fourth Tory prime minister in 12 years is not a new dawn for Britain. There is no sign that either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss have grasped the scale of what we are dealing with, let alone possess the answers to it.” Warning that the “centre is not holding” and that things are “falling apart”, Starmer emphasized his own pragmatism and desire for progress on energy bills, the NHS and crime. “I came to politics after a long career. This makes me impatient. It also means that I favor shared, practical solutions over ideological purity. If I were in Downing Street this week, I would make sure that no one pays a penny more on their energy bill this winter.” Labor is proposing a six-month freeze on energy bills at the current cap of £1,971, partly funded by the extension of the windfall tax on oil and gas profits. “The crisis facing Britain is different because, this time, we really are all in this together,” he writes. “It’s a crisis of energy that we all need. the health service on which we all depend. the neighborhoods we all share. The incoming prime minister must face them or we will all lose.” Starmer, who turned 60 this week, earlier told the Mirror he would use his upcoming conference speech to set out Labour’s “road map, our plan for Britain and how Labor will give Britain the new beginning that is needed.” He promised plans that include “fixing short-term problems such as the cost of living crisis, the National Health crisis and the law and order crisis”, while also looking to rebuilding the economy and tackling the climate crisis. Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting separately accused the Conservatives of deliberately trying to lose the next general election. In the Telegraph, Streeting said the Conservatives had “concluded that there is no point in recruiting medical trainees because they are not going to come to work until a Labor government is formed. I think that’s recklessly short-sighted.”