Starmer’s Five Empty Pledges
Following the announcement of Starmer’s ‘five national missions’ Ashwin Gohil argues the Labour Party is again failing to offer the country any real sense of direction.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
Even after Keir Starmer’s 'five national missions’ address on 23rd February, it’s still unclear what he stands for. Despite promises to provide policy details later in the year, Starmer has a habit of being wishy-washy, as demonstrated by his recent Party Political Broadcast. And with Labour likely emerging as the next governing party in the UK, it’s time for them to stop behaving with such complacency. For Starmer, this means actually taking a stance on key issues rather than flip-flopping and saying anything to earn the party votes.
Starmer’s chief priority would be to “secure the highest sustained growth in the G7” by the conclusion of Labour’s first term in office. While ambition is not a bad thing, there’s a difference between outlining a credible objective and blatant political populism aimed purely at wooing business leaders. Starmer himself said that such a target will “be tough” to achieve, not least because it would mean outranking the economic growth of the Americans, the French and the Japanese – all within five years. When pressed for details, particularly because the UK has been forecasted to suffer the lowest economic growth in the G7, Starmer simply said that details would follow later in 2023. Failing to provide concrete plans to actualise these goals could prove costly for both the party and the country.
Starmer also promises to “build an NHS fit for the future”. This will be achieved through targeting the shortening of treatment times. How he plans to make this happen, however, remains incredibly vague; it is genuinely shocking that Starmer and co. are unable to provide greater clarity on how Labour is to address NHS shortcomings. Claims that he will “harness life sciences and technology” and “cut health inequality” are hardly groundbreaking or inspiring pledges. And whatever your take on the ‘electability’ of Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, at least had a plan when it came to the NHS. After three years as Leader of the Opposition, however, there is nothing credible from Keir Starmer which will offer the electorate hope that the NHS crisis is resolvable. This partially explains why the gap between Sunak and Starmer’s favorability ratings is not as wide as you might expect.
Mission three is to “make Britain’s streets safe.” Starmer pledges to do this by “reforming the police and criminal justice system” which will ensure that convicted criminals receive harsher sentences. But how exactly will the Labour Party do this? Channelling his inner Tony Blair with a “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” argument, Starmer’s decision to invoke the rhetoric of a man responsible for the calamity that was the Iraq War, and increasing the national debt through eye-watering government expenditure, is not a good look. This certainly plays into the Conservative Party jibe that Starmer will spend his way out of issues by ‘throwing money’ at the problem.
But it does provide a partial glimpse into the method, as Starmer seemingly teases a prominent role for the private sector. This is especially true of his fourth objective to dismantle “the barriers of opportunity at every stage for every child.” Characteristically ambiguous, Starmer promises to do this through enacting “reform” of childcare and education. Starmer did, however, remark that he is not concerned whether this would be driven by investments from the public or private sector. Starmer should once again be cautious about his complacency; it's fine to set out a broad framework, but non-committedly remarking that he promises neither “state control” nor “pure free markets” will not win over the electorate. Political opportunism can only get you so far.
Mission five, Starmer concludes, is to “make Britain a clean energy superpower.” Seeking to cut energy bills and “boost energy security with zero-carbon electricity by 2030” is his only genuinely impressive commitment. This will make Britain second to none in achieving net zero in such a short amount of time. This pledge carries particular appeal because renewable energy is not a feature of Rishi Sunak’s five-point plan outlined in January, thus setting Labour apart from the Tories. The pledge of an annual £28 billion to tackle climate change should be credited.
All in all, however, these five objectives reveal little about Starmer’s plan for the country, but do demonstrate that Starmer will say anything to earn himself potential votes. After turning his back on many of the ‘ten key pledges’ of his leadership campaign, Starmer earns the title of ultimate flip-flopper. He served in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet for four years but has blocked him from standing for the Labour Party; he originally committed himself to public ownership of water and energy companies but has now reneged; and he is apparently in favour of public sector strikes but, as Sorcha highlighted, forbids Shadow Cabinet members from joining the picket lines. Even the Institute for Government argues that “the difficult choices are yet to come” for Starmer and co. who – bar the fifth commitment - promise nothing concrete. Only time will prove how problematic this could be.