Workers, pensioners and children: all better off. Ignore the critics – we really are standing up for working people | Keir Starmer

Day-one rights to statutory sick pay and paternity leave begin on Monday, and that fits the pattern. From my own life, I know people’s anxieties, and I will respond

• Starmer attacks Greens, saying vote for Labour rivals puts new workers’ rights at risk

This week 27 years ago, a Labour government introduced the minimum wage. At the time, the voices of the status quo lined up against it, but Labour made a choice: to stand up for working people. My government is doing the same.

On Monday, the biggest strengthening of workers’ rights in a generation comes into force. For the first time, workers gain day-one rights to statutory sick pay and paternity leave. No one should be forced to choose between their health and their wages, or miss those first precious days with their child because of insecurity at work.

Keir Starmer is the UK prime minister