Who does Labour exist to represent in Starmer's Britain?

The Herald Scotland

5 days ago

Contrary to what many people remember the first Thatcher government, elected in 1979, was comparatively benign compared with what was to come – the miners' strike, mass unemployment, the economic vandalism of the 1980s, the Poll Tax – and Kinnock knew that it was simply a warm-up routine.
If Thatcher was re-elected, he told the packed hall and a live TV audience on News at Ten, 'I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old'.
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A politician so cruelly misrepresented in the Conservative media, Kinnock was not only the architect of New Labour, and arguably the best Prime Minister his party never had, he was also the greatest platform orator of his generation.
Listening to one of his rousing, charismatic and intelligent speeches, was to be reminded of the power of collective ambition and the glorious possibility of change. Above all, he always stressed the importance of not overpromising and of delivering.
Neil Kinnock (Image: PA)
What is striking about listening to his words today – more than 40 years later – is that under the current leadership, they might equally apply to the Labour government.
Labour leaders have always faced a perilous balancing act in appealing simultaneously to the party faithful and the wider electorate. There are those, like Tony Blair and Harold Wilson, who managed the neat trick of speaking effectively to both.
Others, like Jeremy Corbyn and Michael Foot didn't even pretend to be interested in engaging with the latter and succumbed, inevitably to the gravitational effects of their own hubris at the polls. The current leadership appears to be the first in the party's history to speak to neither.
Sir Keir Starmer's first year as Prime Minister has been marked by a dramatic collapse in public support, with his net approval rating now worse than all post-Thatcher prime ministers, with the exception of Gordon Brown, at the same stage.
Key missteps include his controversial decision – alongside Chancellor Rachel Reeves – to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners. This move, justified by a disputed £22billion "black hole", alienated older voters and damaged his reputation, and his inability to deliver on key manifesto pledges accelerated that decline.
A recent Public First poll revealed 39% of voters believe he has made no progress on any major promises, including cutting NHS waiting times (24%), restoring order to the asylum system (8%), or improving border security (12%).
Tax hikes included in last year's Autumn Statement eroded business confidence, while a prisoner early-release scandal – where a freed inmate thanked Starmer for his "privilege" – deepened the sense of detachment.
A disastrous first year was capped with the poor handling of the government's welfare bill, which squeezed through its final Commons stage, only after significant rebellion and concessions.
The bill's passage followed weeks of chaos, with ministers forced to scrap PIP cuts for existing claimants and delay changes for new ones.
Starmer's low-drama persona, once an asset against Tory turmoil, now appears indecisive, with Reform overtaking Labour in polls and Nigel Farage seen as a stronger leader.
The most damaging impact of these failures may well be in the longer term, applied by voters who could be forgiven for wondering who Labour represents and what it stands for. If it is not there to support the 'ordinary, the young, the ill and the old' then what is its purpose?
The party is still battling to overcome claims of antisemitism that took root under Corbyn's disastrous, sclerotic leadership. This week Susan Smith, director of the campaign group For Women Scotland claimed the party has an 'ongoing women problem' after Labour MP Tim Roca described gender critical activists as 'swivel-eyed'.
While Blair had the benefit of a growing economy when he won a landslide victory in 1997, he also came into office with an identifiable political credo and a sense of purpose. The doctrinal prism through which all policy decisions were refracted, was reform – modernising the party and bringing it more in line with mainstream orthodoxy.
While he inevitably alienated parts of Labour's base – not least through his disastrous and, ultimately career-defining, decision to support a US invasion of Iraq – he continued to command popular support. If there's one thing core voters and activists cannot argue against, it's winning elections.
The problem for Starmer and his colleagues is that, more than a year into government, voters still have no idea what they stand for. Relying solely on competence for electoral appeal quickly becomes a liability when you make a series of demonstrably incompetent decisions.
Before Starmer can begin to address his party's disparity in the opinion polls, he must prioritise reconnecting with its grassroots, to articulate more clearly his values and beliefs, to counter the threat, not only from Farage's snake oil promises, but also from Corbyn's new, and as yet unnamed, party of the far left.
He could do worse than start watch another of Kinnock's former speeches, his leader's address to the Labour conference in 1985 when he took on Militant Tendency, the Trotskyist insurgency that threatened to subvert the party from within.
His delivery was an object lesson in highlighting the futility of dogmatc obsession and was directed at Militant members who had captured Liverpool City Council, bankrupting it with profligate, illegal spending and then sacking its own employees because it couldn't afford to pay their wages. 'Implausible promises don't win victories,' he told a chastened hall.
If Starmer can first convince his party's faithful of that abiding truth, he will be better placed to win over the wider electorate.
Carlos Alba is a journalist, author, and PR consultant at Carlos Alba Media. His latest novel, There's a Problem with Dad, explores the issue of undiagnosed autism among older people