This content was published on September 26, 2021 – 12:37
Guillermo Ximenis
London, Sep 26 (EFE) .- The head of the opposition in the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, faces his first national congress of the Labor Party in person this week, with the challenge of clearing up doubts about his leadership and proposing a program with him. to regain the “red belt” of voters seduced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The wear and tear of the conservative president in the face of the shortage crisis in the United Kingdom, the waiting lists in the health system and the increase in the price of energy, among other factors, has narrowed his advantage in the polls.
However, the first obstacle that the opposition leader must overcome is internal. The popularity among his voters has plummeted in recent months: 58% of them believe that he is doing his job poorly, according to the latest YouGov poll, when in December only 23% suspended him.
Some of his co-religionists criticize his lack of definition on the big issues that occupy today, such as Brexit and fiscal policies, and doubt his ability to re-attract the masses of voters who left Labor in the 2019 generals, especially in post-industrial areas of northern England.
RECOVER THE CENTER
Starmer won the party’s primaries in 2020 with a message of unity. His priority, rather than detailing his political roadmap, was to heal the wounds left by Labor’s worst electoral defeat in nearly a century and the resignation as leader of Jeremy Corbyn, who had the backing of the leftist sector and some of the unions. with more weight in the game.
The now leader, a lawyer specialized in human rights, has tried to build bridges towards the left wing of his formation, although it is expected that the speech in which he will lay the foundations of his proposals next Wednesday will recover a more focused space than the one occupied by its predecessor.
Not surprisingly, one of the collaborators who have worked on that speech is Philip Collins, a former member of the team of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who popularized the term “New Labor” as the hallmark of a program that prioritized economic stimuli over companies against the preference for nationalizations.
Starmer hopes to win back the favor of large masses of voters who turned their backs on Corbyn’s program two years ago, which included the nationalization of rail companies, electricity and water infrastructure, and the Royal Mail postal company, among others.
ALTERNATIVE TO JOHNSON’S “CHAOS”
The Labor Congress comes at a time when a lack of manpower has forced the closure of dozens of gas stations in the United Kingdom and threatens to leave supermarkets, restaurants and various industrial sectors short of supplies.
The conservative government must deal at the same time with the increase in energy prices, which can lead to the bankruptcy of many electricity companies, and the saturation of the health system that has caused the coronavirus pandemic.
Given this scenario, Starmer announced this Sunday that during the congress held in Brighton (southern England) until Wednesday he will put his recipes on the table to repair the “chaos” in which the country is plunged.
Questioned in an interview with the BBC about his proposals to fight the energy crisis, the Labor leader stressed that he is “not” in favor of nationalizing power companies at risk of bankruptcy this winter, despite the fact that at the time he was a supporter of “supporting the common property of the railroad, the mail, the energy and the water.”
“I do not see nationalization there,” replied Starmer, who assured that as prime minister “he would be pragmatic in that sense.” “Where common property offers value to taxpayers and allows better services to be offered, then there should be common property,” he defended.
He was also asked about his stance on tax increases like the one Johnson ordered this month to inject new resources into the health system.
“We are analyzing the tax issue. Nothing is off the table, but we do not know how the national finances will be when we go to the next elections,” wielded the Labor leader, who faces the challenge of rebuilding his party after the traumatic defeat of the last generals. EFE
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