KEIR Starmer dodged a question on whether the monarchy should be “trimmed back” amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast, the Labour leader was asked if all the paraphernalia for King Charles’s coronation on Saturday was appropriate considering people are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table.

Starmer said he understood the point but swiftly moved on to suggest the coronation was an important event people would remember for generations to come.

He added it was a chance for the country to come together and “renew what it means to be headed by a monarchy”.

READ MORE: BBC: Angus Robertson 'corrects' presenter on UK Government claim

Asked if the monarchy should be slimmed down and whether the coronation was appropriate during the cost of living crisis, Starmer said: “I understand that but I do think this is a coronation, this has come round for the first time in 70 years, and one of the things we did when the late Queen died was to look back on her coronation and the huge memories and so this is not just about what happens on Saturday, it’s what we look back on in five, 10 and 30 years.

“My children will look back at this. They will look back at this in years to come remembering for the first time for them, and for me, a coronation.

“I do understand that argument, the cost of living crisis, but this is something that is going to be heard through the generations.”

He added: “This is a new chapter, a new chance to renew what it means to be headed by a monarchy, a chance for the country to come together.”

“We do have moments like this, [like] in the pandemic. I think when the late Queen died we saw it again, the country sort of stopped and said, ‘look there are bigger things’ and I hope we can see that this weekend as well where the country can say, ‘yeah let’s just come together’.

“I hope we can come together and celebrate what it is to be so proud of our nation.”

Last June, Starmer claimed it was a “patriotic duty” to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee despite living standards falling at their fastest level on record at the time.

Starmer told councils across the UK to make sure that “as many people can celebrate as possible” at street parties and insisted it was a chance for the country to “let its hair down”.

He also argued the Queen had made Britain a better country, one which had rejected “extremism”.