THE Labour leader and the party’s candidate for Basingstoke have pledged to support young people living in the borough, and the wider UK.

Sir Keir Starmer made the promise during a visit to Basingstoke on Tuesday, June 18, whilst on the campaign trail with candidate Luke Murphy and businessman Theo Paphitis.

Mr Murphy expressed a need for more youth hubs and places for ‘kids to socialise’ across Basingstoke - emphasising the Top of Town as a prospective location for a youth centre.

Sir Keir echoed Mr Murphy’s promises telling the Gazette: “Young people have been very badly let down.”

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Sir Keir Starmer in Basingstoke (Image: PA) Labour also hopes to give young people a ‘well-paid job as quickly as possible’ to reduce the impact of the cost-of-living crisis affecting the youth today. 

Sir Keir acknowledged the lack of housing and the renting crisis as barriers for young people and doubled down on his manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes and introduce low deposit mortgages. 

He said: "We need to make the tough decisions so that our young people have the skills they need for the jobs of the future, which are secure and well paid, and don't have to go back and live with family.”

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Mr Murphy agreed, and has pledged to “build more affordable housing, right here in Basingstoke, to give us the infrastructure we need”. 

Labour has also pledged to ‘extinguish’ antisocial behaviour in Basingstoke town centre and other high streets across the country - with a commitment of 13,000 more police officers on the streets.

Speaking about stamping down on crime, the Labour leader said: “Antisocial behaviour affects people. It affects the high street - it means less people will choose to go to the high street.”

He stressed the urgency to turn the high street around, through neighbourhood police actively patrolling, saying that “having support networks to ensure, when possible, we are able to catch people before they offend in the first place”.