Keir Starmer bet the house on economic growth as he launched his Labour manifesto, promising £8.5bn in tax rises, but none that affect ordinary “working people”.

The manifesto was the Labour leader packaged into an A5-sized 135-page brochure. A deliberately modest black and white cover containing pledges that are a model of restraint; dullness pitched as a virtue after the years of Tory crazy. Despite making growth the number one priority, there wasn’t a single spending pledge in the manifesto that requires it. This was steady as he goes in paperback.

At the bright, airy auditorium at the Co-op movement’s Manchester HQ and surrounded by supporters, Starmer unveiled his plan for Britain as he commands an almost unassailable poll lead. After two standing ovations and some love from the crowd, Starmer faced questions from the press.

“I accept that there is no magic wand,” Starmer said when asked what would happen if the economy does not grow at the scale he hopes. “This manifesto is a total rejection of that defeatist approach. It is the absolute opposite of the hope that we inject through this manifesto.”

There was excitement from Labour supporters as they filed in to hear Starmer speak, the mood tempered by the moving testimony of one of his four warm-up acts, Nathaniel Dye, a 34-year-old musician dying of cancer who told of his hope that NHS waiting lists would get better.

As Starmer got going, a young woman........

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