Keir Starmer claims that the state of the nation is so grim that Labour will need ten years to “fix the foundations” (the latest buzzword emanating from 10 Downing Street). Fair enough. There is certainly much wrong with Britain, some of it the fault of the last Conservative government, and some of it common to most major Western societies.
The problem is huge: Starmer has nothing remotely resembling a plan to fix Britain. He didn’t offer one during the election, nor did he reveal it during his speech in the Downing Street Rose Garden today, which was largely a regurgitation of his boring stump speech that he delivered countless times during the campaign.
Someone should tell him that the elections are over. It is time to stop talking and start acting, even governing.
It is hard to discern why he felt it necessary to address the nation with this off-the-cuff speech. Of course, his aim was to soften us up to the huge tax rises coming in the budget on 30 October, blaming the Conservatives for them. But we are already prepared for the extra taxes that Labour refused to introduce during the election, and we have long been getting the message that the Government wants us to believe it is the Tories’ fault. Every incoming Government blames its predecessors for being “forced” into painful U-turns.
Sir Keir Starmer gives a speech in the Downing Street Rose Garden today
It is true that the Labour leader overstepped the mark. It was Starmer the undertaker, and his nasal tone made him sound even more miserable. No one could have mistaken him for a ray of sunshine.
He was speaking from the rose garden to remind us that this was the site of some of the many Downing Street lockdown parties held during Boris Johnson’s premiership. Labour has not yet fully grasped that it is now in government if it continues to put so much effort into rolling out a garden to wipe out a rival political party that has already been reduced to a handful of remnants.
Johnson paid for the festivities with his job as prime minister, and they probably also marked the end of his political career. It was not clear why the whole matter was brought up and dwelt on. Most people think Johnson got what he deserved and would rather put these terrible times behind him.
Except Starmer still seems more comfortable in campaign mode than running the country. For a man who insisted the election was about the future, he has a remarkable ability to talk non-stop about the Conservative past. He didn’t tell us anything new that he has in store for us, but he trotted out all the party’s old political arguments in a brazen mix of bluntness, nonsense and falsehoods.
He claimed that Labour had already achieved “more in seven weeks than the Conservatives have in seven years” – patent nonsense. All Labour has achieved so far is to pile up problems on multiple fronts, from rising domestic energy bills to the risk of a wage-price spiral due to public sector pay deals that outpace inflation.
His claim that he was being “tough” on unions is so absurd it barely merits a sneer, given the huge pay deals he has been handing out. Saying he had to scrap the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners to help repair the public finances is a complete lie. The savings go to pay for the pay rises. Poor pensioners lose out, so already wealthy workers, from junior doctors to train drivers, can earn much more. Starmer socialism in action.
We have been offered other fruits of his socialism. He has promised that the state-owned company GB Energy he plans to create will “make money for taxpayers”. I am under no illusions: GB Energy will invest in renewable energy sources that still require huge state subsidies, and that the payback will come in the distant and unpromising future.
Equally fatuous was his claim that the Labour Party’s emphasis on renewables, under the control of a green fanatic (Ed Miliband), meant that we would “no longer be dependent on foreign dictators” for our oil and gas. By banning any new licences to exploit the North Sea’s remaining reserves, the Government is actually increasing our dependence on such dictators, because we will continue to need oil and gas for the foreseeable future.
Specialists and junior doctors demanded a pay rise during last year’s strikes
GB Energy will grab resources for little or no profit. Turning its back on the North Sea means our own oil and gas will no longer be a source of revenue for the government. But the government needs all the money it can get. It has inherited a difficult fiscal situation that predicted a squeeze on public spending that no government was likely to meet. But yesterday it trotted out the old nonsense that it was far worse than it had ever imagined: a £22bn black hole.
Indeed, the severity of the fiscal straitjacket was well known during the election; Starmer made no single proposal to do anything about it; then, once in power, he made it much deeper by agreeing to public sector pay rises, which account for more than 40 per cent of the black hole he claims to have uncovered.
Yet this will be the excuse that will be put forward when taxes are raised by at least £20bn, perhaps £30bn, in two months’ time. All sorts of tax increases are being considered (all of which Labour says would not be necessary to get elected), from capital gains tax to cutting tax relief on pension contributions, and many smaller tax rises in between. Even the triple lock on state pensions might not be safe. After all, if you are brazen enough to take away winter fuel payments from people earning just over £11,000 a year, the triple lock doesn’t look so safe in Labour’s brave new world.
At least Starmer had the grace not to flaunt his integrity yesterday and, given that he is now in the middle of several crony crises, that was probably a wise decision. But the whole premise of his speech that “things are terrible and will get much worse before they get better” is based on deceit and lies.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares for the budget on October 30
The UK economy has many deep problems that need to be addressed, but it is not exactly a basket case. It is, so far, the fastest-growing major economy this year. Inflation is just over 2%, shop prices are falling for the first time in almost three years, unemployment is low and the pound is at its highest level in 29 months against the dollar. Remember all that when Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves claims the economy is in such bad shape that taxes need to soar. The more Starmer and Reeves discourage us, the more global investors look at us with less enthusiasm. Remember that too when you wonder who to believe.
Starmer began yesterday by insisting that faster economic growth remains the central plank of the Labour project, but that has already collapsed on take-off. Long-term investments, such as a new AI supercomputer at Edinburgh University, are being sacrificed to fund short-term conveniences and popularity, such as public sector pay rises.
Taxes are not going to be raised to invest in new world-class infrastructure essential for further growth. You will have to pay to feed the insatiable appetite of Labour’s public sector customer base. Good job if you are part of it, not so good if you are footing the bill. That sound you can hear emanating from your wallet or purse is the sound of money being prepared to be taken into the Treasury coffers. You are unlikely to see it again.
