100 Days into Keir Starmer’s Government: What Have We Gained?
After 100 days in office Keir Starmer has come under some fierce criticism, with some even describing his start as the worst in living memory. This seems like a harsh criticism in the same decade as a Prime Minister who barely made it to 50 days in office, but it can’t be denied that our first Labour Government in 14 years hasn’t come with some disappointments.
As Starmer has told us himself, his government has inherited a country in a dire situation. After 14 years of Tory leadership, Labour have been left to deal with a £22 billion blackhole in the economy, which has meant his first 100 days have had a certain gloomy tone. Announcing his October budget in August, he warned “things will get worse before they get better.” Despite handing out bad news, there is something quite respectable in seeing a politician give it to us straight. Following the populist climate created by the likes of Boris Johnson, it seems refreshing to have a Prime Minister be completely honest about the situation in the country, even if the news itself is not the cheeriest. So, what is Starmer doing to improve it?
He has gone ahead on many pledges of his manifesto such as creating GB Energy, going ahead with nationalising the railway and getting rid of one-word Ofsted judgements in England, all of which support his promise to improve workers’ rights. People have been less supportive, however, of his decision to cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, with worries that thousands of pensioners across Britain will suffer in the coming winter months.
This decision is slightly harder to respect with the news that he has received over £100,000 worth of gifts including clothing and Premier League football tickets. For someone who was one of the most vocal critics of the Conservatives for similar issues, it seems slightly unacceptable to find out he has been acting in a similar way to the politicians he scolded as leader of the opposition.
A key moment for him to showcase his leadership skills was the far-right riots we witnessed this summer following the Southport murders. In a time of such disorder and national shame, it was relieving to see our Prime Minister stand up and take a firm stance against such “right-wing thuggery” and marked a move away from the right-wing sentiments we had seen building within the preceding Conservative Government. This glimmer of hope was overshadowed in his conference speech just over a month later when he refused to agree that people concerned with immigration were the same as the racist rioters. Instead of stamping out the right-wing fire that had been so intense, he managed to pour just a little bit of fuel onto it by maintaining a small notion that there is something wrong with immigration.
Another issue he has taken a similarly disappointing approach to has been the ongoing situation in Palestine. Now this is unsurprising given the weak stance he had taken as leader of the opposition, opting to sit out on votes for a ceasefire in the area. Britain still remains complicit in the suffering of Palestinians as his government refuses to put a ban on all arms sales to Israel. As leader of the party that has always vowed to represent the people and always claimed to have a morally higher ground over the conservatives, its disheartening to see his government do so little in the face of atrocities in Gaza. Despite thousands of people who he has pledged to represent speaking up and marching every week against the ongoing genocide, Starmer chooses to turn a blind eye.
So far Keir Starmer has not come without his disappointments. Cutting winter fuel allowance for pensioners, receiving freebies, and taking weak approaches to issues regarding anti-immigration rhetoric and the ongoing situation in Gaza are not what we had hoped to see from a new labour government. As he has already warned us, however, perhaps more time is needed to judge the ambitious plans to fix problems left over by the previous government.
Words by Anna Whyte
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