'Things will get worse' - PM Starmer says fixing UK problems will take time

By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer will warn Britons next week that the changes needed to fix Britain's many problems will take time, saying "things will get worse before we get better" in a speech he describes as a chance to level with the public.

After being elected as prime minister at a July landslide election, Starmer has repeatedly blamed the former Conservative government for leaving Britain in a parlous state, something he said allowed "thugs" to spark this month's anti-migrant riots.

In a speech due on Tuesday, a week before Britain's parliament returns to work after a summer break, Starmer will say that "change won't happen overnight" but that his government is determined to tackle a multitude of problems ranging from overflowing prisons to long waiting lists for health services.

"I said change would not happen overnight. When there is rot deep in the heart of a structure, you can't just cover it up. You can't tinker with it or rely on quick fixes. You have to overhaul the entire thing," Starmer will say, according to excerpts of his speech provided by his office.

"We have inherited not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole and that is why we have to take action and do things differently. Part of that is being honest with people about the choices we face and how tough this will be. Frankly, things will get worse before we get better."

Starmer, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, was forced to cancel his summer holiday this month to tackle riots that targeted Muslims and migrants. The riots began after the killings of three young girls in northern England was wrongly blamed on an Islamist migrant based on online misinformation.

Starmer said the Conservative government's failure to tackle problems had widened cracks in society making it harder to deal with rioters than when he was Britain's top prosecutor from 2008 to 2013.

"And those people throwing rocks, torching cars, making threats, they didn't just know the system was broken. They were betting on it, they were gaming it, they saw the cracks in our society after 14 years of populism and failure and they exploited them. That's what we have inherited," he will say.

Appealing to what he calls Britain's working people such as teachers, nurses, small business owners and firefighters, Starmer will say his government has taken the "first steps towards the change people voted for" on July 4.

But he will say the poor state of Britain's public finances - which his finance minister says are on course to show a 22 billion pound ($29 billion) overspend this year - mean his government will have to make tough decisions.

"If we don't take tough action across the board, we won't be able to fix the foundations of the country like we need," he will say. "I won't shy away from making unpopular decisions now if it's the right thing for the country in the long term. That's what a government of service means." 

($1 = 0.7571 pounds)

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Hugh Lawson)