Where ARE the sunny uplands Mr Starmer? Christopher Hope analysis

The idea of the party's "first steps" was to prepare a retail offer for voters, to give them a reason to switch from voting Conservative to backing Labour.

They are delivering economic stability, cutting NHS waiting lists, launching a new Border Security Command, setting up Great British Energy, cracking down on antisocial behaviour and recruiting 6,500 teachers.

There was an effort to meet the concerns of voters head-on, notably with pledges for new Asbo-style "respect orders" and 13,000 more police officers to tackle anti-social behaviour.

And the plan for Great British Energy was intended - according to documents provided by Labour today - to cut £300 off families energy bills.

But the problem for me was the lack of ambition, of sunny uplands in the prospectus set out by Starmer.

Indeed the plan was called "My First Steps for Change" - but where was the change?

Many of the ideas - more teachers, cutting NHS waiting times and more economic stability - could easily appear in the Conservative manifesto this year. How can that be described as 'change'?

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It was striking too how limited in scale the pledge on illegal Channel crossings is - launching a new Border Security Command is hardly stopping the boats, as the Tories pledge.

In my GB News interview, I asked Starmer where were the "sunny uplands" in his six steps - he said that his focus was to deliver measurable change for people, like patients waiting for an operation.

There was little in the 'first steps' on tax cuts - just a pledge to keep them as low as possible - despite the fact that the Tories are nailed-on to pledge cuts in the election. Nothing on housing, or defence.

Arguably Labour is just being realistic about what is possible, rather than the near-impossible task of stopping all Channel crossings by migrants.

And these are the "first steps". There will be a lot more in the party's manifesto. But this serves to make the Opposition appear less ambitious than the Government which is - to put it mildly - unusual.

I can see why Labour is being cautious. It is known as the 'Ming vase' strategy - in which Labour cannot do anything which risks damaging the precious vase of its poll lead.

But the risk Labour is taking is that they are not adopting actual reasons to vote Labour. More of the same may not be enough to overturn the Conservative’s majority to win power outright.

No wonder Rishi Sunak said on Monday that Starmer was trying to depress people into voting Labour at the election.

I asked Starmer in my GB News interview how he could square backing left-wing Jeremy Corbyn in 2019 and right-wing Natalie Elphicke in 2024.

He pointed out that he had kicked out Corbyn from the Labour Party, while Sunak had failed to take action against Liz Truss over her stewardship of the economy, which was an unexpected answer.

But with inflation falling, interest rates set to fall, the economy ticking up, net immigration falling and the prospect of the first Rwanda flights taking off, Labour cannot take an election win for granted.

I think the Tories still have a chance.