Exclusive:Senior Nationalist says Labour reset will lead to a 'cold, lonely, unloved five years' in government

On Thursday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to unveil his “plan for change”, which will reset his government after a difficult first few months in power.

Sir Keir says this strategy will be “the most ambitious yet honest delivery plan in a generation” and will show his government is “knuckling down” on delivering its election promises.

However Pete Wishart, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader and the party’s longest-serving MP, says this reset will bring “more of the same” and said Labour needs a “drastic rethink” of its agenda moving forward.

He told The Scotsman: “It is abundantly clear that all we are going to get is more of the same miserable agenda that has seen Labour so spectacularly fall in the polls.

“Large families will be kept in poverty with the maintenance of the two-child benefit cap.

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“They don’t seem to have a clue about what to do about immigration except pursue the same unimaginative Tory immigration policies.

“There will be no rethink of the disastrous budget that has gone down like a bucket of sick and they remain determined to pursue this absurd, economy-wrecking Brexit.”

He added: “Labour needs a drastic rethink of their agenda or it is going to be a cold, lonely, unloved five years.

“This paltry ‘reset’ is most definitely not that.”

The Prime Minister says this plan will include five detailed missions on what the UK Government will be prioritising, in a bid to move the public’s attention away from the challenges of the first few months in government and back on to Labour’s manifesto commitments.

This will include breaking down barriers to opportunity, targets to make sure a larger proportion of children are fully ready to start school, housebuilding and tackling hospital waiting lists.

Sir Keir added his plan will detail “measurable milestones” so the public can track how much progress the government has made on its manifesto commitments.

Writing in The Sun, the Prime Minister said: “We were left a dire inheritance, with crumbling public services and crippled public finances to face up to.

“These are major problems that can’t be fixed overnight.

“I make no bones about that, and there’s no point pretending otherwise.

“Meaningful change is not easy to deliver.”

Meanwhile the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden was forced to deny the reset is down to the resignation of Louise Haigh.

Ms Haigh resigned as transport secretary last week over a past criminal conviction.

Speaking to BBC Sundays with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr McFadden said: “No - we’ve been working on this since the early days of government.

“We knew that government would always have events that buffet you around from week to week and things that would cause a lot of heat in the newspapers - you have to deal with those.

“But alongside those you have to look at the long-term too.”

He also said the government will not have a numerical target on net migration as “targets haven’t worked very well”, and said the government will instead be focusing on getting those on sick benefits back into work.