A Tougher Labour Begins To Reveal Itself: But Is It Vulnerable?

Initially it seemed to most people, certainly to me, that the new government was on the right track, but because Labour  had been out of power for 14 years, it was politically rather clumsy and insensitive. The national insurance rise, the fuel allowance, the farmers and their death duties all came across as attacking the vulnerable who had voted for them. Attacking the innocent to protect the guilty. And, of course, to calm the markets.

The Prime Minister, in his Mail On Sunday article today declares a crackdown on benefit cheats and abusers and also people, many of them judging by the benefits bill, who could work if they made an effort, but prefer not to. He chose to use this aggressive right Sunday paper as his platform. Their readers will love it.

When you put the harsh budget, the ruthless crackdown with tough custodial sentences for rioters without previous convictions, champing at the bit for Ukraine to fire Storm Shadows into Russia, promising to respect the ICC and arrest Netanyahu if he shows up here and a whole lot of reforming legislation in the pipeline, it shows a new incarnation of Labour which many old style socialists will feel is more right than left.

Starmer himself is everywhere to be heard and seen and is mostly regarded as a big improvement on the string of incompetents marking the last few years of unstable Tory government. Yet his approval rating has crashed big time. This could be because his style is more of an energetic national manager, rather than an inspiring national leader.

Of course Labour is safe because of its huge Commons majority. It is also vulnerable because this is based on 34% of the national vote. In other words only a third of voters actually voted for it. Our archaic first past the post voting system operating now with  multiple parties, makes the UK one of the very few truly democratic countries in the world where such a distorted electoral outcome is possible.

The government talks about a ten year programme to put the country back on its feet. But people who have been living for too long in an era of decline and decay want much quicker results than that. Especially the rising under forty generation that helped give Labour its victory. If tangible improvements in all the key areas are not there for everyone to see within four years, this  government will find itself out on its ear.