Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has warned a crowd of young engineers of the Tory "gauntlet of fear", as he visited Bristol today.

Making his election pledge in his first speech of 2024, Starmer vowed to “unite as a country and get our future back”, following 13 years of Conservative reign.

Starmer slammed the “futility of opposition” and that the Conservatives will "kick the hope out of all of us".

Starmer said: "Four years I've been working for this. Four years working for the chance to tilt this country firmly and decisively back towards the interests of working people.

"It's been a long, hard slog, and I won't lie, I've hated the futility of opposition, the powerlessness and, yes, the pain that comes from watching the Tories drive the country I love into the rocks of decline.