Keir Starmer' s First Year...

I was happy enough with the Labour Party's 'non-win' last July, but they haven't exactly had an easy ride in their first year.

The Labour Party leader Kier Starmer has had an especially turgid time of it, with a leadership marked by indecision, blunders, and criticisms steadily piling up!

A Government Unprepared to Rule...

Starmer's administration arrived with a daunting set of challenges: anaemic economic growth, a creaking NHS, rising benefits bills, and the shadow of a social care and public sector pension crises looming over all of the more immediate problems.

And they've managed to address precisely none of these problems in the last year, primarily because of their failure to set out a clear agenda.....

And they've somehow managed to alienate both the left and the right....

The Chancellor's "fiscal black hole" threats isolated instead of inspiring business leaders, and the increase in tax on small business too. At the same time the recent attack on benefits has alienated those on the left!

Too many U turns...

It doesn't help that Starmer is inconsistent and seems somewhat aloof. He's a technocrat rather than visionary. From immigration speech botches to U-turns galore on key policy questions, Starmer has failed to say what he—and, by extension, his government—stand for. His response to criticism has a tendency to read as reactive, not strategic, and this only adds to the feeling that this government lacks any long term plan.

Each policy U-turn undermines Starmer's credibility, as he seems to be failing to make tough decisions on taxation, welfare reform, or the finances of the country. As one commentator noted, Starmer is "less a conviction politician than a shape-shifting pragmatist." That pragmatism, once political virtue, now increasingly appears rudderless.

And that most recent U turn on benefits, what was that about...? So bang out of order... some people on benefits are BETTER OFF than those on low incomes just above the benefits threshold, it's literally ludicrous... and we can't afford benefits to carry on the way they are.

Glimmers of Progress – But Are They Enough?

It is not all bad news. Starmer's administration has had some measurable progress: NHS waiting lists have slightly improved; low earners are finally reaping the benefits of a raised minimum wage; and the UK is returned to global tables like Horizon and the G7. Efforts to shut down dirty water companies and cut back on planning restrictions are likewise positives.

If I had to pick one thing they've got bang on right it would be increasing the minimum wage, no real harm there.

Final thoughts...

They've made too many basic errors - both the Winter Fuel Allowance and the farmer's inheritence tax threshold could have been wins if they'd have just introduced sliding scales on each of them.

But at the end of the day we just need MORE VISION from Labour, ATM they just seem too scared to actually do anything.

Although maybe now they're in a better position than this time last year, no one expects anything now, so all they have to do to meet targets is not make anything worse over the next four years...

MAYBE they can do that?

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