Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
In a few days Keir Starmer will mark his first year in office but no one will be celebrating. It seemed so easy in opposition. All he had to do was not be one of those evil Tories he despised so much. But it turns out governing is hard and the attacks he levelled at the Conservatives have since been turned on him.
The anger in the country over his failings is palpable. A detailed seat-by-seat poll found Labour would lose 233 seats if an election was held tomorrow. He has amassed more nicknames than all the Tory leaders he has faced put together. ‘Two-Tier Keir’, ‘Never Here Keir’, ‘Free Gear Keir’, ‘Sir Flip Flop’, the ‘Farmer Harmer’, ‘Sir Kid Starver’ and so on.
In the last 12 months the list of people he has angered includes rape gang victims, pensioners, parents, small business owners, farmers, fishermen, people with disabilities, Brexiteers, the Chagossians and, last but not least, Labour MPs. He is currently on his third U-turn in five weeks. It is not a sign of weakness to alter your course if the situation has changed, but three cavernous climbdowns in just over a month shows just how badly this government is being run.
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When the winter fuel allowance cuts were announced just three weeks into the start of his premiership I was so baffled that I repeatedly asked Treasury officials to check the figures. Surely, no politician can be daft enough to take a payment helping people to heat their homes off 10 million pensioners can they?
Turns out he and his hapless sidekick Rachel Reeves were. It took them ten months to come to their senses. Just a couple of weeks later, Starmer announced he would order a national inquiry in the grooming gangs, or more correctly, child rape gangs, after previously insisting it was not necessary. Then this week he was forced into a humiliating reversal over welfare reforms, not for ideological reasons, but because even with an enormous majority his own backbenchers revolted.
Each of the U-turns was so utterly predictable that the levels of self-harm involved demanded an intervention. But it is unlikely Starmer and his team would listen. They have hit the bunker mentality stage, one that really is usually reserved for the end of a government, not the beginning.
That backbenchers, even experienced, sensible ones, are so ready to turn on their leader just a year after he led them to an historic landslide, is astonishing. They should be revelling in their victory, excited by finally being able to put into action all of the things they dreamt of during the wasted years in opposition. Instead they are downbeat, shocked at being the unpopular ones instead of being able to play to the gallery.
Starmer’s approach to leadership is to try to bulldoze things through to show how tough he is. But leadership is about bringing your troops with you. Starmer has failed to tell his backbenchers, or the country, a convincing story about the purpose of this Labour government. His U-turns mean tax hikes now loom on the horizon as the Chancellor needs to find around £4.5billion to cover the costs.
The small boats crisis is getting worse despite Starmer’s election slogan promising to ‘smash the gangs’. As crossings continued to increase earlier this month, one illegal migrant was entering the country every five minutes. Legal immigration has been in the hundreds of thousands for years. Starmer gave a big speech promising to bring down migration by 2029.
But now the PM has admitted what we knew all along – he was just parroting someone else’s words when he gave the address. In an interview with the Observer, Starmer said he “deeply regrets” warning that Britain would become an “island of strangers”. “I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as, an echo of Powell,” he said. “I had no idea – and my speechwriters didn’t know either. But that particular phrase – no, it wasn’t right. I’ll give you the honest truth – I deeply regret using it.”
The PM said he should have read through the speech properly before using it. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the admission showed Starmer was just “reading the words out, like a dummy. We need a leader, not a ventriloquist”. Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage said: “This absolute proof that Keir Starmer has no beliefs, no principles and just reads from a script. We need a leader that has vision.”
Sadly, we have got a few more years before the country can have a say on that. Happy anniversary!
Keir Starmer caves in to Labour welfare rebels with ‘£3bn’ of concessions to avoid defeat
Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly caved in to his backbench rebels and performed a humiliating climbdown ahead of next week’s crunch vote on welfare reforms. Despite pledging there would be no more concessions, there are now widespread claims that the PM has made a number of costly concessions to his mutinous MPs, amounting to about £3billion.
This would more than halve the total savings originally intended by his benefits cuts and leave Chancellor Rachel Reeves with yet another black hole to fill in the autumn Budget. Among the changes is a promise that no Briton currently claiming Personal Independence Payments will lose out. Instead, the changes to eligibility will only apply to new applicants – a move that will shave between £1.5-2billion from the original £4.6billion saving. Changes to the disability top-up for Universal Credit will also only be applied to new applicants, potentially costing Ms Reeves another £1billion by 2029.
Sir Keir Starmer had claimed he would make no further concessions (Image: Getty)
A final concession came as the Prime Minister agreed that a review of disability benefit entitlement, being led by Stephen Timms, will now be produced in coalition with disability activist groups.
One hard-Left MP said that speculation of “massive concessions” on the cuts was overblown, however.
Apsana Begum, who was elected as a Labour MP prior to her suspension from the party, said the giveaways by the PM “are tiny”.
“Fewer disabled people to be harmed but they’ll be harmed nonetheless. The Government’s plans mean that disabled people will be worse off than under the Tories. Drop the Bill.”
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: “If confirmed this is the latest in a growing list of screeching U-turns from this weak Labour government.”
“Under pressure from his own MPs, Starmer has made another completely unfunded spending commitment. Labour’s welfare chaos will cost hardworking taxpayers.
“Keir Starmer’s inability to get welfare spending under control will see families up and down the country slapped with even higher taxes to pay for it.”
The U-turn leaves Rachel Reeves with yet another black hole (Image: Getty)
The Prime Minister had been facing a humiliating defeat on Tuesday as over 120 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have killed the bill off.
After days of attempting to bully MPs back in line with threats of a potential general election should the Bill fail, Sir Keir finally began contacting his MPs on Thursday after returning from the NATO summit.
One Labour MP told the Express: “They are warning us we could bring the Government down, but what they don’t understand is that if my voters see me voting for these cuts, I will lose my seat.”
The initial proposals to cut Britain’s swelling welfare bill sought to make it harder to claim Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which helps disabled people with living costs, so that 800,000 lose an average of £4,500 annually.
Lucy Powell, the Leader of the Commons and a member of Sir Keir’s Cabinet, told MPs the vote would go ahead despite the civil war.
No 10 failed to deny reports of concessions on Thursday, though both Sir Keir and Ms Reeves insisted they would “listen” to concerns. Sir Keir told MPs: “We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday.”
He insisted there was a consensus “on the urgent need for reform of our welfare system, because the British people deserve protection and dignity when they are unable to work and supported to work when they can”.
Ministers argued action was essential to stop the welfare bill ballooning, as there are currently 1,000 successful claims for PiP every day. Spending on working age disability and incapacity benefits is set to reach £70 billion a year on current trends.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell urged the Government to axe the Bill. She said: “We have spoken to our constituents and organisations representing disabled people who reject the Bill because it will cause harm to disabled people and their voices have not been heard.”
Another Labour backbencher, Emma Lewell, said: “Cutting benefits will not incentivise people to go out and find a job that doesn’t exist.” She said the Government had failed to publish assessments showing how the changes would affect people.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir faced “the fight of his life” and said welfare spending was “out of control”.
She said: “Our country is living beyond its means. We are spending more than we’re earning and it means the cost of living crisis for working people is getting worse and worse,” the Conservative leader told the British Chambers of Commerce conference.
