This is the best summary I could come up with:

Labour has formally requested talks with the civil service in preparation for government if the party wins the election, and discussions are expected to start within two weeks.

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, wrote to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to begin the process of access talks, a week after Rishi Sunak gave the go-ahead for them to start.

It is understood that the process, through which party officials will discuss with civil servants how they would run a government should they oust the Conservatives after 14 years, is likely to start before the end of the month.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “Keir Starmer has today written to the cabinet secretary to begin the access talks process.”

For a period in the 2000s, the prime minister would do this in advance of the opening of parliament, meaning they could begin whenever needed.

But under David Cameron, that practice ended, and, under Sunak, Downing Street has faced repeated questions in recent weeks about when he would grant permission before an election that could happen as early as spring, although autumn is now seen as more likely.

The original article contains 282 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 34%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

The discussions are a routine but a symbolic process before a possible handover of power.

From the article. Just feel that this is an important context left out by the headline!

Everyone does this: Corbyn did it (twice), Miliband did it, Michael Howard did it way back when. It’s routine, rather than any kind of implication that Starmer is expecting or expected to win.