Starmer’s rose garden speech on the 27th August, with its grim messages that essentially boil down to ‘winter is coming’, did not exactly inspire thoughts of hope and prosperity after our long existence beneath the Tories’ austerity. Alongside the ‘economic black hole’ of £22bn, the Starmer administration are also having to face 'a societal black hole'. From the economy to prisons, the Tories have left our country in tatters and it will take time for the new government to pick up the pieces.
That seems to be Labour’s focus: that, no matter what, this is all the fault of the Tories.
And that does seem to be Labour’s focus: that, no matter what, this is all the fault of the Tories. Whilst this is true, the Tories can only be blamed for the state of our country for so long; at some point, it will become clear whether or not this Labour government is up to the challenge. We need decisive action that is true to the core tenants of the Labour party; Labour cannot save this country by simply being ‘not as bad as the Tories’.
Over the past two months there have been moments showing both promise and disappointment. Starmer’s reaction to, and handling of, the summer’s right wing riots is to be applauded and showed that he was capable of decisive action - reminiscent of his time as the director of public prosecutions during the 2011 riots. He has also made progress rebuilding, or, to use his phrase, 'resetting' relationships with the EU, which could hopefully soften Johnson’s hard Brexit.
Starmer’s reaction to the summer’s right wing riots is to be applauded and showed that he was capable of decisive action.
The disappointment, however, lies in the party’s continuation of many of the Tories’ economic policies like the two-child benefit cap which will only increase child poverty rates as per the Resolution Foundation prediction that 1 in 3 children will be living in relative poverty by 2029. Rachel Reeves’ Autumn budget also promises another hard winter for many, especially with the limitation of the winter-fuel payments to the poorest pensioners. As always, the burden of broken Britain is falling upon its most vulnerable citizens.
Our country won’t be fixed overnight, but the current path seems like an all too familiar and all too conservative one. There are more years of hardship ahead, but whether or not there will be a light at the end of the tunnel is up to Keir Starmer.