Starmer’s Labour: A New Age?
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of days, the UK had a general election and the Labour Party won with a majority of 86. This is bigger than the landslide that Tony Blair won in 1997.
The Conservatives have suffered major blows all across the UK, especially in Wales where they have been wiped out.
But what does a new Labour government mean for the UK? How will this differ from the last 14 years of Conservative rule?
The Cabinet, for the first time in British history, is majority state-educated with only 2 members privately educated. The Deputy Prime Minister is a woman who left school at 16 pregnant with no qualifications. Now Angela Rayner is the most important woman in the UK, demonstrating social mobility in action. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is Rachel Reeves, the first woman to ever hold this position. Records are already being broken with this government. This is a stark contrast to the previous Cabinets where private education and PPE degrees were almost the prerequisite.
But Labour’s manifesto and aims were vague, their campaign running on their ability to bring “change”, whatever that means.
The key things to note are not only what Labour say, but what they do. Starmer on his first day in office has already scrapped the highly controversial Rwanda scheme that would deport illegal migrants. This was in the Labour manifesto and has now been fulfilled.
I’m particularly looking to see what Starmer will do with extending the voting age. Starmer’s “supermajority” has given him the opportunity to pass bills without any opposition at all. He promised to enfranchise millions of young people in the 16-17 year age category. However, this must be coupled with a comprehensive education system that allows young people to understand politics and the gravity of such decisions.
I don’t agree with keeping voter ID as electoral fraud is such a low problem and the use of this policy is to discourage voters.
But there is much to be done - this is not the Labour of 2019, or 1997. People did not go out to vote for Labour but against the Conservative Party. After their record on Gaza, and weak opposition of the Conservative Party, Labour has much to prove to the public over the next 5 years in order to gain trust and prove they are not “Tories in red”. The rise of the Reform Party proves that this is not a socialist tide but a tide where the the far-right is rising, with 5 MPs in Parliament. This is a concern and something Starmer will be keenly aware of in how he deals with the country going forward, particularly with immigration and foreign affairs.
How well he does this with his Cabinet will be reflected in the provisional election of 2029. Labour has many amends to make if they want continued support, with more parties than ever for the public to choose from.
*Image obtained from The Guardian, all rights reserved: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/time-for-us-to-deliver-says-starmer-as-labour-heads-for-landslide *The term supermajority is one synonymous with US elections where the winning party wins by a large margin. It has been used in this General Election by the two main political parties.
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