At the recent Conservative convention, Liz Truss addressed her party with her usual nonsensical rubbish and an extra helping of her delusional economics (to put it lightly). Delivering “super-fast broadband” to the masses appeared to take priority over the survival of the population this winter as she promised yet more tax cuts - but at least the rich stay rich right? Her three priorities for our economy, “growth, growth and growth”, appears to forget that a game of ‘how low can the pound go?’ does not actually promote growth. This economical turmoil, which she has caused in under a month, was, instead, blamed on the ominous “anti-growth coalition”, a fearsome alignment of society’s biggest villains: farmers, NGOs (such as Greenpeace, the RSPCA and the National trust), and anyone-else who actually wants a future in which to worry about the cost of living.
This tact of making the environment a scape-goat for Conservative cock-ups appears to be supported throughout the party with Jacob Rees-Mogg intent on proclaiming that “fracking is green” at Cop27 and the Environmental Minister prioritising making Britain a “world leader in lettuce” over protecting the environment from fracking’s economic exploitation. Comparatively, Boris Johnson’s commitment to NET zero almost seems like an idyllic past. We really are living in a perversely hilarious dystopia where a Prime Minister, who lied his way through three years of office, seems like the good old days.
Is there any hope? Enter Kier Starmer, in shining armour, riding in on the back of an actual economic policy.
Kier Starmer’s convention speech both efficiently slandered Truss’ government and presented realistic policy aims including a plan to create a publicly-owned renewable energy firm, delivering British jobs and carbon-free electricity by 2030 - directly juxtaposing Truss’ illusory “growth” at the cost of the planet. Indeed, Starmer’s claim that a Labour government is the only way to create a "fairer, greener, more dynamic" society appears accurate as, whilst the Conservatives seem set on destruction, at least Labour are offering an actual future.
As the Conservatives move further from rationality, Starmer is cementing Labour as the people’s party, newly updated with sound economics and ‘stable’ money. The instability caused by the past 10 years of Conservative rule is perhaps .Labour’s chance to throw off its negative economic stereotype. According to Starmer, now is a ‘Labour moment’ just as in 1945, 1964 and 1997; the time to jump from opposition to government is nigh. But can Labour achieve this, especially considering 2019’s catastrophe? As good as Labour’s plans seem to be (including a new mortgage guarantee scheme and a 70% home ownership target), they can only come to fruition if they win a general election, which is still two years away - plenty of time for the Tories to wreck more havoc.
One essentially powerless party with potentially life-saving, and planet-saving, policies; the other, powerful, but useless. British politics at its finest…