The Guardian view on class politics: it has faded as culture wars have risen
Early in the 2010s, class politics was everywhere. Bankers were bailed out, and the price Europeans apparently had to pay was austerity. Protests erupted from Greece to Wall Street. Thomas Piketty's book on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, took the world by storm, and Britain seemed poised for a shift – first with Ed Miliband's critique of 'predatory capital', then when Labour members chose to back Jeremy Corbyn's attack on a rigged economy.
A decade later, it might seem that time's arrow has finally hit its mark. Britain has a Labour government with a whopping majority and, after years in which British prime ministers hopped off the conveyor belt from Eton or Winchester, the country is now led by the son of a toolmaker. Even the leader of the Tories, Kemi Badenoch, claims she 'became working class' as a teen, while doing a few shifts at McDonald's.
A working-class background has become the badge politicians try to flaunt. But what about the politics of class? Well, that's a different matter. The manifesto that propelled Sir Keir Starmer to power last summer mentions 'working people' 21 times, but 'inequality' just once. What does the prime minister mean by 'working people'? It was a question that he struggled to answer ahead of last October's budget, eventually suggesting the term denoted those 'who do not always have the means to write a cheque'. The average adult wrote just two cheques all of last year.
Today's political leaders treat class as a matter of culture rather than economics, about tastes and traditions rather than where you sit in relation to power. With a piquant irony, class war has got bundled up into a culture war.
The Labour government hopes to make employment law a little more progressive, but to lift up working-class kids it proposes lessons in oracy, or speaking skills. As an up-and-coming MP, Rachel Reeves would attack David Cameron for making tax cuts for the wealthy; now she is chancellor, she listens hard to what she calls the 'non-dom community'. But she was right first time: Britain stands out for how much wealth goes to those who are already wealthy, while the rest of the country has got by on stagnant real wages. Placating the Davos crowd may make good headlines, but it does nothing for the public finances, let alone your voters.
There is a danger to stripping class of its associations with inequality, and its name is Nigel Farage. It is the radical right who pose with increasing confidence as the defenders of the working class. No matter how regressive the actual policies of Reform, on the economics that hits the headlines – Thames Water or Port Talbot – Mr Farage and Richard Tice will take up positions now discarded by the centre left. It is the same formula that got Donald Trump into power. The richest man ever to be president of the US touts himself at elections as the champion of blue-collar workers; once in power he surrounds himself with tech billionaires. Across Europe, the radical right have studied his example. The centre-left have been somewhat slower on the uptake, but they must urgently learn the lesson that politics abhors a vacuum and that class politics can be taken up by reactionaries as well as progressives. The results of that switch may prove disastrous.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wales Online
38 minutes ago
- Wales Online
DWP announces it will offer £300 payment to millions in one income bracket
DWP announces it will offer £300 payment to millions in one income bracket The government has confirmed more people will get support - here is everything you need to know Millions of people will get a winter fuel payment this year in a major government U-turn (Image: Getty ) In a significant policy reversal, millions of individuals will receive a winter fuel payment this year. It has been confirmed that pensioners earning £35,000 or less will be eligible for a payment of up to £300. This slightly reverses a policy implemented previously which introduced means-testing for the payment. This change drastically reduced the number of pensioners receiving the aid from 11.4 million to approximately 1.5 million. The payment, typically distributed in November or December to assist with heating costs during the chillier months, had previously been automatic. The alteration was widely attributed to the Labour Party's plummeting public support following its general election win. For money-saving tips, sign up to our Money newsletter here Earlier this year, the government hinted at a partial U-turn, stating that more people would receive the payment but did not provide further details until now. With the new adjustments, around nine million individuals will now qualify for the payment, costing £1.25bn. This is expected to be offset by reclaiming the payment from higher-income pensioners through HMRC. Here are the changes you need to know about and who will qualify under the new rules. Article continues below What are the current rules for the winter fuel payment and what changed in 2024/25? Winter fuel payments, previously a universal benefit for everyone over the state pension age, are undergoing significant changes. The newly elected Labour-led government last year declared that it would introduce means tests, limiting payments to individuals on benefits and pension credit as a cost-saving measure. The move faced substantial backlash, accused of adversely affecting the most vulnerable, and was believed to have influenced the party's devastating performance in the local elections. However, there's been a shift in stance recently. Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed an adjustment to the approach, indicating that more pensioners will be eligible for the winter fuel allowance this year, though it will not be extended to everyone. Reeves relayed to journalists at a briefing, "more people will get winter fuel payment this winter" and promised that additional information would be made available "as soon as we possibly can." What's changing under the updated regulations? This Monday, June 9, it was officially announced that any pensioner in England and Wales earning £35,000 or less annually is entitled to receive the winter fuel payment. This amendment expands coverage to a vast number of pensioners – about nine million or roughly three-quarters – as per the statements from ministers. The upcoming changes are set to cost approximately £1.25 billion in England and Wales, with the introduction of means-testing for the Winter Fuel Payment expected to save around £450 million, pending approval from the Office for Budget Responsibility compared to the current system of universal payments. These costs will be factored into the forthcoming Budget and included in the next OBR forecast. In response to queries about how these adjustments will be financed, the government has stated that it will "take decisions on funding in the round at that forecast to ensure the government's non-negotiable fiscal rules are met", and emphasised that this would "not lead to permanent additional borrowing." There is no need for individuals to take any action, as those eligible will automatically receive the payment this winter. For those with incomes above the threshold, the funds will be reclaimed by HMRC. The automatic payment of £200 per household, or £300 for households with someone over 80, will be distributed this winter. Additionally, over 12 million pensioners throughout the UK will gain from the Triple Lock, which promises a State Pension increase of up to £1,900 during this parliament. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has made it clear that the government's choice to target Winter Fuel Payments was a challenging yet necessary measure considering the situation inherited from the previous administration. She said: "Targeting Winter Fuel Payments was a tough decision, but the right decision because of the inheritance we had been left by the previous government. It is also right that we continue to means-test this payment so that it is targeted and fair, rather than restoring eligibility to everyone including the wealthiest. "But we have now acted to expand the eligibility of the Winter Fuel Payment so no pensioner on a lower income will miss out. This will mean over three quarters of pensioners receiving the payment in England and Wales later this winter." Article continues below For those pensioners above the £35,000 earnings mark, approximately two million throughout England and Wales, the full amount of the winter fuel payment they are due will be systematically reclaimed via the PAYE system or through their self-assessment tax return. No one will be required to contact HMRC for registration or any additional steps in this process. There will also be an option for pensioners who prefer to forego the payment entirely, with forthcoming details on how to opt out.
New Statesman
41 minutes ago
- New Statesman
Will Labour's winter fuel U-turn work?
Winston Churchill believed that 'the Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted'. The same, one minister tells me, is true of Rachel Reeves and winter fuel payments. Two days before her first Spending Review (which I preview here), Reeves has announced that winter fuel payments will be restored to three-quarters of pensioners (or all those earning below £35,000). The Chancellor wants to use the event to tell a story of pro-growth investment and dispel accusations of austerity – hence this advance U-turn. As I reported last August, plenty inside government always feared that the original £11,500 earnings threshold – above which the £200-£300 benefit was withdrawn – was too brutal. So it proved. MPs began referring to the policy as Labour's 'original sin' and it was blamed for the party's dismal performance in the local elections and its defeat to Reform in the Runcorn by-election. Though Reeves long defended the measure as an emblem of fiscal discipline, the Chancellor herself came to conclude that it was untenable (cabinet colleagues such as Ed Miliband and Liz Kendall had doubts from the start). Reeves is now making the argument that some new Labour MPs wanted her to deliver from the start: that it is 'fair' to withdraw the benefit from the 'wealthiest' pensioners (two million earn over £35,000). Such a framing could have opened up a conversation around generational inequality but the policy was instead justified as a response to the Conservatives' '£22bn black hole'. Even now, some inside government fear that an opportunity has been missed to make a values-based argument. Here, for instance, is how Gordon Brown explained his U-turn over the abolition of the 10p income tax rate in 2008. 'It really hurt that suddenly people felt I wasn't on the side of people on middle and modest incomes – because on the side of hard-working families is the only place I've ever wanted to be,' he said. 'And from now on it's the only place I ever will be.' But Reeves avoided such a moral narrative today, leaving Labour open to the charge that it has merely U-turned out of political expediency. In recent weeks she and Starmer have also sought to tie the move to an improving economy – growth of 0.7 per cent in the first quarter – yet this creates an additional headache: renewed pressure to reverse other measures (such as the health and disability benefit cuts) even as debt continues to rise. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The winter fuel episode ultimately left Labour looking both unfair and weak, a deadly combination for any government. For Reeves, the test is whether she can now escape from her own history and use this moment to reset her Chancellorship. Related
Daily Mirror
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Nigel Farage accused of 'selling fairy dust' over unfunded steelworks plan
Reform leader Nigel Farage said he wants to reopen the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales, but is under pressure to say how he would achieve it after failing to give answers today Nigel Farage has been accused of "selling fairy dust" after saying he wants to reopen Port Talbot's blast furnaces without a plan to pay for it. The Reform leader announced his desire with a wave of fanfare - but was unable to say how he would achieve it. Mr Farage admitted he would need the help of central government and private businesses, and conceded it would cost billions of pounds. During a press conference in Wales he was confronted with claims the furnaces are "beyond recovery", with the cost of building a brand new steelworks costing around £3billion Floundering Mr Farage said: "Nothing is impossible, but it might be difficult, it might be easier to build a new one." He said it was an "ambition" to reopen the blast furnaces, which closed last year as operator Tata moves to a greener electric arc. The Indian-based company said it was losing £1million a day in Port Talbot. The Reform leader has set his sights on winning control of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd. Following his press conference, a spokesman for the Community Union said: 'We will always support credible policies that create more well-paid jobs in the steel sector, but our steel communities deserve better than to be used as a political football. If Reform have serious plans for the future of our steel sector in Wales, they should set them out in full.' And Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, whose Aberafan Maesteg constituency includes Port Talbot, said Mr Farage was pitching "an operation that no one with any proper knowledge of steelmaking thinks is credible". Mr Kinnock went on: "Farage is a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite cosplaying as a socialist. It has been a really challenging time for our community. Politicians should focus on what we can achieve through Labour's £2.5bn Steel Fund - not insulting our intelligence by selling snake oil & fairy dust." A Labour Party spokesman said: ' Nigel Farage is all talk, no plan, and would risk chaos, cuts and decline for Britain. 'He admitted today that it is a 'massive expensive job to reopen blast furnaces' costing 'in the low billions', without offering any explanation for how he would pay for it. Reform UK is just not serious." At his press conference Mr Farage acknowledged it would cost "in the low billions" to repopen the blast furnances, and said "private business partners" would have to be brought in. "Reopening a blast furnace is not an easy thing," he admitted. Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives' Senedd group, said: "Nigel Farage's empty and uncosted promises are nothing more than a mirage. The people of Port Talbot won't be taken for fools." And Heledd Fychan, of Plaid Cymru, said: "Today, Reform have shown us what they offer Wales, empty headlines and nonsensical policies. Farage has parachuted himself into a community recently devastated by UK government inaction, and is taking advantage of the loss by claiming to reopen the blast furnaces, something the industry have already told us is impossible."
