“A lot has happened in the last two years. We’ve gone through Covid, we’ve got debt on a scale we haven’t seen for a long, long time, if ever,” he told BBC Radio 4.
“We have to move to the choice of the next election where we have to say we’re going to do X because we can afford it, but we may not be able to do Y and be open and transparent about it.
“I don’t think anyone would say that nothing has really happened in the last two years that has changed our finances.”
Asked if this meant his 10 leadership promises were now dead in the water, he said: “Yes. The financial situation has changed, the debt situation has changed.”
Despite his remarks, the 10 pledges are still on Sir Keir’s website. There he says they are “based on the moral case for socialism” and vows to “uphold our radical values”.
Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former spokesman for Mr Corbyn, said: “If Starmer had been honest about his intentions, or even if there had been any ambiguity, he would not have won the leadership.
“That’s why he felt the need to publish the 10 pledges and put them front and center on his website and send them out en masse to all members, which would cost tens of thousands.”
“Saying no is the hardest thing in politics”
Sir Keir admitted the move could anger his party’s left wing, agreeing that “saying no” to your own country “is the hardest thing” in politics.
But he attacked the economic policies of the two Tory leadership candidates, insisting Labor would not impose more tax on struggling families.
He described Rishi Sunak as the “architect” of the cost of living crisis and said Liz Truss was living in an “economic fantasy world” with her spending plans.
A tense televised debate between the two on Monday night showed that “their party has really lost the plot and any real sense of purpose,” he said.
Criticizing the Tories’ record in government, he added: “We’ve had no economic growth for 12 years now. There is no point in pretending that this is the result of Brexit or Ukraine.
“That’s why we’ve had wages that have been frozen for the better part of a decade and why as a country we’ve been hit harder by the cost of living crisis.”
But he would not commit to confronting union bosses over a planned wave of autumn strikes or say whether he would accept their demands for inflation to match public sector pay rises.
“I support the right to strike. If we were in government, we would make sure that the people around the negotiating table reached an agreement,” he said.
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