Keir Starmer's end-of-term report card is in and it makes for grim reading – he has three big problems

The Sun

20-07-2025

IT is the end of the school year and Parliament is shutting down for the summer holidays.
But if Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to spend August in his swimming trunks larking about by the pool, he should think again.
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The PM's end-of-term report card is in — and it makes for grim reading.
The economy is shrinking, his popularity is plummeting and his pesky backbenchers are busy rebelling.
The only thing on the up in Britain is illegal immigration and crime.
Across the board, Sir Keir and his chums in Labour's class of 2024 are at risk of scoring straight Fs — and failing the British public.
In Opposition, Keir Starmer campaigned like a swotty prefect. Dull, yes, but a safe pair of hands who promised to fix broken Britain and restore integrity in politics.
But in No10 he has been more Dunce than headboy.
The PM has a big problem with his three Rs: Reeves, recession and rebellions.
He must master each of these to turn things around.
Let's start with Rachel Reeves.
On the campaign trail she promised the most 'pro-business' government in British history, and cosplayed Margaret Thatcher by declaring herself the 'Iron Chancellor'.
PM vows to drastically increase the numbers of channel migrants sent back to France
But once safely tucked up in the Treasury, she dropped a £40billion tax bomb on us — clobbering businesses with that crippling NICs hike.
The results were predictable.
Britain's economy has gone from the fastest-growing in the G7 to one that is SHRINKING after the tax rises kicked in.
Unemployment numbers are up and struggling businesses are thinking twice before hiring because of the eye- watering costs.
You don't have to be a maths whizz to work out the numbers don't add up.
If Keir Starmer is not careful he could end up with another big problem — a recession.
Labour has always had a bad reputation with money.
The problem is simple: They love spending money but are rubbish at making it.
Now, Labour MPs are busy clamouring for a new wealth tax. ('What wealth?', I hear you cry.)
This would be a grave mistake.
Eye-watering costs
If you squeeze people and businesses with higher and higher taxes they will stop spending, stop hiring, and stop investing.
That is how we have ended up in this doom-loop where people feel poorer and cut back on treats like holidays and dinners out.
It hacks away at people's happiness and optimism.
If you work hard but life isn't getting better, your local pub or shop is closing down, and your kids have fewer opportunities than you had, then what's the point of the Government?
If the Starmer regime plunges Britain into recession within its first 18 months in power then it is hard to see how Labour recovers.
Which brings me to the third R — rebellions.
Labour MPs won by a landslide a year ago, but they have already got a taste for mutiny.
The recent welfare rebellion forced No10 into yet another humiliating U-turn and left a £5billion hole in the Budget.
Last week Starmer hit back — suspending four rebel MPs for what one insider called 'persistent knobheadery'.
I've seen the past four PMs torn down by bitter party feuding.
Voters handed Labour a giant majority for a reason: They want change.
If the Government fails to deliver it, voters will flock elsewhere. And Nigel Farage's Reform UK party is lurking on the horizon.
But Keir Starmer CAN turn things around — it is not too late to turn those Fs into As.
First he must stand by Rachel Reeves as Chancellor.
Yes, she has made big mistakes, but she knows the importance of providing certainty and stability for the market.
Another Labour Chancellor might bring in a wealth tax and go on an even bigger spending splurge.
That would be a terrible mistake.
Next, he must stop punishing businesses.
No more big tax hikes. No more suffocating red tape.
Having a wobble
Restrictive licensing laws should be torn up. Incentives to take over empty shops should be brought in.
Third, he must take on the rebels. No PM can be a hostage to his backbenchers. He must be free to lead.
But, to do this, Keir must be braver and make the big arguments. He must stop trying to sneak in piecemeal reform by the back door.
On welfare, he should come back with a package of measures that ends the scandal of teenagers and young adults being signed off work for anxiety, depression and bad nerves.
It is killing their life chances with misplaced kindness.
It is not too late for the Government to turn things around.
As any parent of a spotty teenager will tell Keir, lots of people have a wobble in their first year.
But the PM must pull his socks up, hit the books this summer and come back next term with bigger and better ideas.
Otherwise, as one of my old teachers once told me, he risks slipping into obscurity.
And he will have failed Britain.
THERE is a long hot summer ahead of us and that can only mean one thing – more crime.
Shoplifting, phone snatching, stabbings. Brits are sick to the back teeth with it all.
A shocking poll in yesterday's Sun on Sunday revealed that half of voters think the country is becoming lawless. That is a stat to keep politicians and police chiefs awake at night.
Nigel Farage and Reform UK will spend the summer shining a light on our crime-blighted streets and promising to restore law and order. Keir Starmer should be worried.
People want their neighbourhoods cleaned up.
If Labour can't do it, they will vote for a party that can.