You would be forgiven for thinking that Keir Starmer is a ‘dead cert’ for Prime Minister. Polling at almost twenty points ahead of his Tory counterpart and facing a Conservative party that’s been haemorrhaging MPs, the outcome of the upcoming election looks pretty clear. But with Labour still in need of 128 more seats, the biggest swing since 1945, releasing a tepid manifesto will severely undermine their election campaign. Labour have championed ‘iron discipline’ with respect to the country’s finances.
They’ve pledged to cut the government’s consultancy fees by half and appoint a ‘Covid Corruption Commissioner’ to retrieve misspent public money. But this caution about ‘turning on the spending taps’ has come at the expensive of some of their most tangible policies. It’s meant they’ve ditched their pledge to scrap tuition fees, watered down their spending on green infrastructure, and withdrawn their commitment to unfreeze tax thresholds. This just leaves a diluted manifesto that lacks any kind of real flavour.
Focus groups have shown that voters believe Labour offer ‘too little’ by way of actual substance were they to win the next election, and I share this worry. Manifestoes set an agenda for government but with no tangible policies, what’s Labour actually going to offer? They’re not the Conservatives, for a start, but neither are the Lib Dems, the Greens, or the SNP. It’s simply not enough to be the safety net into
which disassociated Tory voters will fall. They need to answer the question ‘why us?’. Starmer’s frustratingly vague ‘Five Missions’ go some way to providing an answer.
They include something about the NHS, something about crime, and something about energy but they lack clarity, purpose, and commitment. They aren’t pursed on anyone’s lips. In 1996, if you asked a voter what Tony Blair’s priorities were, they would reply with ardour and zest: ‘education, education, education!’ Ultimately, it’s a naff slogan but it gave voters confidence that a Labour government would do something.
Yes, £28 billion a year on Great British Energy is expensive, and Starmer is right to be cautious, but the rewards will be spectacular. France, Denmark, and Sweden are testament to the success of a publicly owned renewable energy company. So, Labour need stop tip toeing and flip flopping around this policy and turn their ‘ambition’ into a pledge. Labour aren’t shy of maybes, but they need commitments. Progressive policies, like GB Energy, need to be carved into proverbial stone on the 8 th of Februrary. If Labour want my vote, they need to tell me, in no uncertain terms, what they’re going to change.
“File:Keir Starmer, 2020 Labour Party leadership election hustings, Bristol 2.jpg” by Rwendland is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.