How is Keir Starmer getting on with his pledges to deliver change?

How is Keir Starmer getting on with his pledges to deliver change?15 December 2025ShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleBen Chu and Anthony ReubenBBC VerifyBBCIn December 2024, Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlined his government's "plan for change" and set targets in key areas, including house building, hospital waiting lists and living standards.He called them "measurable milestones" that would "track our progress and allow the British people to hold us to account".BBC Verify looks at how the government is getting on with these pledges one year on. Building housesStarmer's plan is to build 1.5 million "safe and decent homes" in England.This is to be delivered by the end of this Parliament - so by 2029. The government is measuring progress by looking at 'net additional dwellings' - the difference between houses and flats built or converted and those demolished.No annual target has been set but getting this many homes would average out at 300,000 a year.Labour is only currently managing to add just over 200,000 a year.Ministers say they were always going to ramp up to the 1.5 million target in the later years of the Parliament.However, it is worth noting that, so far, the delivery rate is actually down on the final years of the last Conservative government.When will we know? Figures for the full year to the end of March come out in November.But you can follow the progress, including in your area, on BBC Verify's housebuilding tracker, which uses a more timely indicator: the number of new homes receiving their first Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). These figures come out roughly a month after the end of each quarter.Hospital waiting listsOn health, the pledge is that 92% of patients in England will be seen within 18 weeks by the end of the Parliament.There have been some signs of progress.The latest NHS data for England show that in October 2025, 61.7% of patients due for procedures were seen within 18...