Starmer’s had a bad year – here’s what he must do next
Following a chaotic and deeply damaging row over welfare cuts, Keir Starmer can’t afford any more cock-ups, says Douglas Beattie
A year ago the general election campaign was closing and the country was about to vote for the first Labour government in 14 years. A year on, many at the top of the party accept that their period in office to date has been challenging – to put it mildly.
This point has been crystallised by the chaotic and deeply damaging row over welfare reform in recent days. Having made what were billed as major concessions to rebels in their own party, a government with a 165-seat majority then had to move again and all but shred their plans as the debate unfolded in the Commons.
Though the long-term damage of all this is unclear right now, I’m told anger over the mess on welfare reached deep inside the Cabinet and other senior positions in the party.
Of course, governments of all stripes have had to water down plans and perform dramatic U-turns. However, this has already happened so often under Keir Starmer – think of winter fuel payments and grooming gangs – that it has begun to make the government look as though they lack the guile to tackle the major problems of the day.
Driving an agenda
Fundamentally what Downing Street must be able to do is drive the political agenda – fail on this and things can go quickly awry, with significant consequences. This was the case for James Callaghan in the 1970s when Labour faced numerous serious issues relating to the economy and industrial relations, all of which ended in the loss of a confidence vote and the arrival of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister.
John Major’s government never recovered from Britain’s catastrophic crash out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, and similarly Theresa May’s administration was doomed the moment the Brexit issue began to spiral out of control in the Commons.
Right now, Labour can’t afford any more cock-ups. Yes, they inherited an unholy mess from the Tories but took little account of how the self-imposed ‘fiscal rules’ would box them in, and that remains the case.
Keir Starmer and his cabinet would do well to reflect that the country voted Labour on the prospectus of change – and too many people still feel an absence of hope that things will get better at pace. Hope is the essence of Labour’s offer to the country, as it has been across the 125 years of the party’s existence.
All is not at all lost, but the Prime Minister would be well served to steer away from Treasury orthodoxy and tack a more traditional course leftwards. In short – Labour must always be an anti-poverty party while at the same time finding innovative ways to rebuild Britain.
Labour must always be an anti-poverty party while at the same time finding innovative ways to rebuild Britain
If this administration needs inspiration they might find it in the words of Labour’s greatest Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, who oversaw the vast post-WWII reforms, including the creation of the NHS and welfare state.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1945 election the new PM said : “Labour is the party of the future and Labour’s policy is the only policy that can lead us to peace abroad and social justice at home.” What Starmer must seek to do is convey that message today, for it remains every bit as relevant to our lives.
There is not a moment to lose; a year in power has passed in the blink of an eye and the local and devolved parliamentary elections next spring are already on the horizon. They will go a long way to defining Labour’s chances of winning the next general election.
Douglas Beattie is the author of Victory at the Ballot Box: The History of How Labour Built Britain (Elliott & Thompson), out 3 July 2025 in paperback, £10.99