Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to achieve “ambitious but achievable” targets this week as he attempts to put a turbulent start in Number 10 behind him.

He will ask voters to judge him on “milestones” such as improving the NHS and growing the economy in a bid to draw a line under rows which have dominated his first five months in office including winter fuel payment cuts.

Some Labour MPs see the speech, dubbed a “plan for change” by Downing Street, as an admission that the Government has failed to get its message across. The latest setback is the resignation of former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh after she admitted pleading guilty to fraud in 2014.

A veteran Labour backbencher said: “It obviously is an attempt to reset. And that’s what it’s got to be, because the Labour Party is getting off to a disastrous start.”

Sir Keir will also signal that Government departments could face cuts in a tough spending review next spring that will include a “line by line” review of every item of spending.

The announcement of a new Cabinet Secretary, the most senior civil servant in the country, is imminent and they will be charged with overseeing a revolution in Whitehall to ensure civil servants are working together across departments to achieve the Government’s goals. Simon Case, who currently holds the £200,000-a-year post, announced in September he was stepping down.

Sir Keir said: “This Plan for Change is the most ambitious yet honest programme for government in a generation. Mission-led government does not mean picking milestones because they are easy or will happen anyway. It means relentlessly driving real improvements in the lives of working people.”

He added: “Our Plan for Change is the next phase of delivering this Government’s mission. Some may oppose what we are doing and no doubt there will be obstacles along the way, but this Government was elected on a mandate of change and our plan reflects the priorities of working people.”

Labour previously set out five “mission” which include securing the highest sustained economic growth in the G7, creating a “green” energy system by 2030, cutting NHS waiting times, cutting crime and recruiting 6,500 more specialist teachers. The speech is expected to expand on these with clear targets allowing voters at the next election to judge whether the Government has succeeded.

Downing Street insists it has already made significant progress by stabilising the economy, establishing a new Border Security Command to tackle small boat cross-Channel crossings and boosting NHS funding by £22 billion.

One Labour MP said the Government had introduced measures that the public supports such as improving workers rights and regulating buses to improve services, but they added: “The communications has been terrible. All voters know about are the bad things.”

Another Labour MP said: “Usually a Government which has won such a majority is fizzing with energy. This feels like we are in the dog days of a government.”

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Labour big-hitter Jonathan Ashworth, a former member of Sir Keir’s Shadow Cabinet, said: “This week Keir Starmer will show he’s getting to grips with the country’s problems with plans to deliver.”

But he warned: “Lots of Sunday Express readers put their trust in Labour at the last general election, in some cases for the first time ever.

“The Labour top team need to remember trust is precious and not to take it for granted.”

Mr Ashworth, now Chief Executive of Starmer-backing think tank Labour Together, said: “Labour will never make the mistakes the Tories did. But complaining about the last lot isn’t enough.

“At the general election the British people voted for change and want the pace of change to accelerate.”