Keir's first year: Starmer under pressure after a rocky start for Labour
Sir Keir was accused of setting a gloomy tone at the outset, telling the public that 'things will get worse before they get better' and warning of 'tough choices' and a 'black hole' left in the finances by his predecessors.
Soon after, a plan was unveiled to cut back winter fuel payments for pensioners, only for an enduring backlash to see the Government U-turn and widen eligibility months later.
This and the recent climbdown over plans for welfare cuts to stave off a backbench rebellion have raised the prospect of further tax rises in the autumn budget as the Chancellor seeks to balance the books.
It has also raised the prospect of rebellious MPs being emboldened to continue pushing back on future policy, putting Sir Keir's plans at risk.
When it comes to whether voters like him, Sir John has argued that the Government has a 'lack of direction' and that the Prime Minister was 'never especially popular' and that 'the public still don't know what he stands for.'
'The only vision he's really presented is: 'We'll fix the problems the Conservatives left us.' But it's not clear how he wants to change the country,' he told Times Radio.
Sir Keir has acknowledged the 'challenge' of 'getting our story across'.
'If I was to list to you all the things we've done, it's a big long list of things. [But] how do we tell the story of what we've done? How do we make sure it's actually felt by working people?' he said in an interview with The Times.
He also said he took 'ownership' of all decisions made by his Government, and that he did not get to grips with the growing rebellion over welfare reforms earlier as he was focused on international affairs.
Although that rebellion was eventually reduced from 126 MPs to just 49, it required extensive concessions and marked the biggest revolt of his premiership so far, just days before he celebrated his first year in office.
He has played a balancing act on the world stage, strengthening ties with the EU while courting US President Donald Trump, who he wooed with an invitation for a second state visit to the UK when they met in the White House.
The football-loving Prime Minister lists a 'hat-trick' of deals – an EU 'reset', a deal with India, and an agreement for relief from Mr Trump's tariffs which has been partially implemented – among his key achievements.
Sir Keir said he took 'ownership' of all decisions made by his Government (Kin Cheung/PA)
He also touts his commitment to get defence spending up to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – and the new Nato defence and security spending pledge of 5% of GDP by 2035.
At home, he is battling the rise of Reform UK.
A YouGov megapoll released last week said a general election now could see Reform UK taking more seats than Labour, while the latest Ipsos poll puts Nigel Farage's party at 34% with Labour behind at 25%.
Sir Keir framed Reform UK as Labour's main opposition at a press conference in May, saying the Conservative Party has 'run out of road'.
It came after Reform UK hoovered up council seats across England in local elections, as well as gaining a seat previously held by Labour in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
An immigration speech in which the Prime Minister said the UK could become an 'island of strangers' drew criticism and comparisons with Enoch Powell's infamous 'rivers of blood' address that was blamed for inflaming racial tensions in the 1960s.
Sir Keir has since expressed regret at the phrasing.
But he reportedly plans to target 'authoritarian-leaning' voters with a focus on tackling migration and crime.
In recent polling by LabourList of members, 64% said they wanted the party to shift to the left, with only around 2% favouring a move to the right.
Sir Keir has pledged to lead a 'decade of national renewal' (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
The next test at the polls will be Welsh and Scottish elections in May, at which Reform UK hopes to end Labour's 26-year domination in the Senedd next year.
Sir Keir again took aim at the party in a speech to the Welsh Labour conference last weekend, saying Mr Farage has 'no plan at all' for the nation.
Political historian Sir Anthony Seldon has praised Sir Keir's ability to react to crises in foreign policy and during the riots last summer, but urged him to counter Reform UK by communicating 'growth' and 'optimism'.
'Show people that you're Prime Minister, show people you've got a story, show people things are getting better across the whole country with growth and then, you know, that will deal with Reform,' he told Sky News.
Sir Keir has pledged to lead a 'decade of national renewal' and said that the first year of that has been 'cleaning up that mess' his Government inherited.
In a signal he is seeking to put a positive spin on the future, he told business leaders last week: 'We've wiped the state clean, we've stabilised the economy, and now we can go on to the next phase of government, building on that foundation.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rachel Reeves says ‘I was upset but today's a new day' after Commons tears
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was visibly upset during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, stating the next day it was a "personal issue" she would not elaborate on. Despite the emotional moment, Ms Reeves insisted she was "cracking on with the job" when she appeared publicly on Thursday to launch the NHS 10-year plan. 'People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today's a new day,' she said. Keir Starmer publicly defended Ms Reeves, acknowledging he had not fully appreciated her distress during the fast-paced PMQs. The chancellor's emotional display, alongside a £5 billion deficit in spending plans, initially unsettled financial markets, though government bonds rallied and the pound steadied after reassurances about her position. While Labour colleagues defended her, some Conservatives criticised her public show of emotion, suggesting it was inappropriate for a senior leader.
The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Every Labour U-turn after PM reverses welfare cuts
Sir Keir Starmer has announced his latest U-turn: a £5bn change of course over his flagship welfare bill. With just minutes to go before MPs were set to vote on an already watered down welfare bill, he confirmed plans abandon a key plank of the reforms in order to get them through parliament and avoid a mass rebellion from his own MPs. The U-turn left the prime minister's authority battered and left the chancellor with a gaping hole in the public finances. As Sir Keir marks one year in office, The Independent looks at all the times he has U-turned on his promises or let voters down. Sir Keir suffered the biggest blow to his leadership since coming into power a year ago after he was forced to abandon a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament. Just 90 minutes before voting began, ministers announced that plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) – which had been the central pillar of the government's reforms – were being dropped. Sir Keir had already been forced into a U-turn the week before when more than 130 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have effectively killed the bill off. Among the concessions announced then was a plan to impose tougher eligibility rules only on future PIP claimants, leaving existing recipients unaffected. Winter fuel payments In July, the chancellor announced that pensioners not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits would no longer receive winter fuel payments - a £300 payment to help with energy costs in the colder months. After spending months ruling out a U-turn, the prime minister in May told MPs he now wants to ensure more pensioners are eligible for the payment – something he claimed has come as a result of an improving economic picture. After weeks of speculation over what the changes would look like, it has now been confirmed that 9 million pensioners will be eligible for the payment - a huge uplift from the 1.5 million pensioners who received the payment in winter 2024-25. Grooming gangs Sir Keir spent months brushing off calls for a national inquiry with statutory powers into grooming gangs as unnecessary. As Elon Musk launched himself headlong into the debate, calling for a fresh probe into the scandal, Labour's refusal looked increasingly unlikely to hold. But Sir Keir stood firm, and even accused those calling for an inquiry, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, of ' jumping on the bandwagon of the far-Right '. But in yet another screeching U-turn, after months of holding out, Sir Keir in June accepted the recommendation of Baroness Casey to hold an inquiry. In a 2022 interview, Sir Keir said: 'All your working life you've got in mind the date on which you can retire and get your pension, and just as you get towards it, the goalposts are moved and you don't get it, and it's a real injustice. 'We need to do something about it. That wasn't the basis on which you paid in or the basis on which you were working.' But, in a familiar change of tune since becoming prime minister, Sir Keir last year sent his work and pensions secretary out to tell Women Against State Pension Inequality, Waspi women, they would not be getting any compensation. National insurance Labour's pre-election manifesto promised not to increase national insurance. It stated: 'Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.' But, Sir Keir and Chancellor Ms Reeves used the ambiguity around whether they meant employer or employee national insurance contributions to steamroll the pledge at Labour's first Budget in power. The pair argue that they only promised to keep employee contributions frozen and instead landed firms with a 2 per cent increase to employer national insurance contributions. Tractor tax Farmers have also said they feel betrayed by the PM, after a 2023 National Farmers Union (NFU) speech in which he promised to have 'a new relationship with the countryside and farmers'. Sir Keir claimed to be concerned that 'each day brings a new existential risk to British farming. He added: 'Losing a farm is not like losing any other business, it can't come back.' Going even further, then shadow environment secretary Steve Reed said it was 'desperate nonsense' to suggest he would scrap tax breaks for farmers, just weeks before the July 4 poll. But, in another hugely unpopular Budget bombshell, Sir Keir slashed agricultural property relief, meaning previously exempt farms will be his with a 20 per cent levy on farming assets worth more than £1m. Critics have said it will see family farmers forced to sell up, ripping the heart out of countryside communities. And other times the PM has rowed back on his words... Two-child benefit cap Promising in 2020 to create a social security system fit for the 21st century, Sir Keir said: 'We must scrap the inhuman Work Capability Assessments and private provision of disability assessments... scrap punitive sanctions, two-child limit and benefits cap.' But before the election, Sir Keir said Labour was 'not changing' the Tory policy if Labour were to win power. He has stuck to his guns, even suspending seven Labour MPs for rebelling against his King's Speech in a bid to have the policy scrapped. And now, it looks like the prime minister is gearing up to row back on the position. While nothing has been announced, the prime minister is privately said to be in favour of lifting the cap. He has refused to commit to anything until the child poverty strategy is published in the autumn but has insisted he is 'absolutely determined' to 'drive down' child poverty and has repeatedly sidestepped questions on the issue when pressed on it. £28bn green investment pledge As shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves announced the party's plans for an extra £28bn a year in green investment at Labour's conference in September 2021. But before the election, Sir Keir ditched the £28bn a year target and said instead that he would spend a far smaller sum on Great British Energy, a national wealth fund for clean investment and pledges on energy efficiency. Bankers' bonuses Strict regulations on bonuses, which limit annual payouts to twice a banker's salary, were introduced by the EU in 2014 in a bid to avoid excessive risk-taking after the 2008 financial crisis. Former prime minister Liz Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng scrapped the cap in 2022, in a bid to encourage more investment in the UK. Sir Keir had previously vowed to reinstate the cap, saying in 2022 that lifting it 'shows the Tories are absolutely tone deaf to what so many people are going through'. But in another major U-turn, Ms Reeves announced before the election that the party 'does not have any intention of bringing that back'.
The National
37 minutes ago
- The National
I asked Glasgow locals for their verdict on Labour's one year in power
Keir Starmer's party won a huge majority – 411 out of the 650 seats in the Commons – but this was deemed a shallow victory as they managed just 33.7% of the vote. Since then, their fortunes have collapsed, according to polling expert Professor John Curtice, more rapidly than any other UK government in history. READ MORE: Scots back independence as Keir Starmer's popularity at record low – poll An Ipsos poll published to mark the one-year anniversary of Labour entering power found that just 25% of UK voters expect Starmer to win a second term in Downing Street. The most recent polling from YouGov, Find Out Now, More in Common, Opinium, Techne, and BMG Research have all projected that Nigel Farage's Reform UK are set to beat Labour at the next Westminster election. On the streets of Glasgow one year on from Labour's victory, the prevailing feeling among people The National spoke to was one of disappointment. Numerous people said they had voted Labour in the hope of change, only to be let down by the reality. 'They are literally just acting like Tories,' one person said. 'They're doing the same sh**, they're cutting benefits, they are acting horrifically towards disabled people, elderly people, and poor people – the exact demographics who had already been treated horrifically.' Two policy decisions which have marred the Labour Government's first year in office came up time and time again: the cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment, and the cuts to disability benefits. READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: A progressive Scotland can win out. Zohran Mamdani is showing how Of course, Labour have since U-turned on those policies, withdrawing the cuts to disability from their welfare reforms entirely at the last minute, and reinstating Winter Fuel Payments for pension-age people with an annual income below £35,000. However, Starmer's Government have only closed the barn doors long after the horse bolted. The damage – caused by their decision to look to the elderly and the disabled to make 'savings' – has been done. 'They can cut welfare, but they've got billions for the f***ing arms industry,' one Glasgow local said. 'It's f***ing atrocious.' UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has seen his polling fortunes collapseI talked to literally dozens of people on the streets of Scotland's biggest city on Thursday – and not one expressed support for Labour. In a city that saw every one of its constituencies turn red just 12 months ago, that was a genuine surprise. One lady did say: 'I don't think there's any government will get us out of the mess we're in. I don't care who it is … The previous have left too much mess. They're playing catch-up constant.' That was as close as anyone came to expressing even an understanding as to why Labour's first year in Government has not been what many may have hoped. Unless Starmer can inspire a lot more than that, his odds of holding on to power in four years' time seem vanishingly slim.
