Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s authority has been deteriorating for months. While last week’s dismal local election results may have been the final straw for many lawmakers in his Labour Party, a series of policy missteps, U-turns and scandal had brought Starmer’s government to breaking point.
Early in Starmer’s premiership, his government – seeking to put Britain’s public finances on a more stable footing – announced that it would cut a universal subsidy to help older people pay their heating bills in winter, and introduce a means-tested system instead.
That move caused a huge backlash, as more than 10 million pensioners lost out on payments, worth up to £300 (about $400), in the winter of 2024. Starmer backtracked the next year, reinstating the subsidy.
The winter fuel payments debacle damaged trust in the leadership’s judgment – and would have failed to save much money anyway. The government’s credibility took a further hit when it attempted to cut certain disability and sickness-related benefits payments – which have ballooned since the Covid-19 pandemic – only for the measures to be blocked by backbench Labour lawmakers in Parliament.
To Labour’s left-wing voters, the party seemed callous. To financial markets, it seemed unwilling to take tough decisions. Borrowing costs continued to creep up.
Starmer has also seesawed in his rhetoric and policies on immigration. In the first year of his premiership, he took a tougher line on the issue, partly in an attempt to stop voters jumping to Reform, the hard-right party led by Nigel Farage. But that tactic only served to alienate Labour’s more progressive voters, without halting Reform’s surge in the polls.
The past several months have been dominated by the fallout from Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington. Starmer fired Mandelson after just a few months in the role after documents revealed the extent of Mandelson’s ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The appointment deepened doubts about Starmer’s political judgment.
Against the backdrop of anemic economic growth, these missteps have brought Starmer’s premiership to the brink. Although supporters of the Prime Minister point out his achievements in bringing down waiting lists for the National Health Service, workers’ rights reforms and rebuilding Britain’s relations with Europe, his poor communication skills mean Labour’s successes can go unnoticed.
