The Labour Party had remained in the shadows for quite some time now but recently the party has enjoyed considerable support and has a double-digit edge over the ruling conservative party.
The British Labour Party was formed in the 1900s as a party of government that has remained one of the strongest political forces in Britain. Today the party’s head Keir Starmer vows to set things straight and plans to end thirteen years of Tory rule. The Labour Party had remained in the shadows for quite some time now but recently the party has enjoyed considerable support and has a double-digit edge over the ruling conservative party.
All about change
“The Labour Party only came into existence in order to form Labour governments and bring about change. We must never, ever lose sight of that,” says Keir Starmer. Under Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader who formerly headed the Labour Party, it resembled more like a radical protest movement than an opposition party. But since the beginning of his term, Keir Stramer is determined to change that notion.
He stated that reviving the party to serve the country has been his priority and is working towards it for the last three years. Britain is undoubtedly going through one of its worst economic crises with political turmoil and Starmer’s decision to revive the party comes at a crucial time.
The country had jumped from one upheaval to another. The Covid-19 pandemic had affected the world economy drastically but in the UK the effects were a little severe. The country suffered the worst per capita death rate in Western Europe. When the effects of the pandemic slowly eased, the Russia-Ukraine war pushed Britain and the rest of Europe into another turmoil. The resignation of Boris Johnson, Liss Truss’s swearing-in as the PM, and the following catastrophic budget announcement all created havoc in the country’s governance. Even the economic performance hasn’t improved much.
The country is expected to be the worst economic performer among the G7 countries. It is said that the UK will become poorer than post-communist Poland by the end of the decade and Inflation, on the other hand, is barely easing. The country will hold its next general election by January 2025, and most expect Keir Starmer to have a good chance to become UK’s 58th Prime Minister. Since late 2022, the Labour Party has had a reconcilable double-digit lead which is again making things difficult for the conservatives.
This is also a hard blow to conservatives as Labour Party has the chance of overtaking them as the largest party in local government for the first time in more than two decades.
Starmer says that following “mission-driven” change that is influenced more by practicality than ideology and emphasised that working people want changes and expect politicians to fix it rather than giving out fake promises.
A late entry into politics
Starmer entered the Parliament in the year 2015, at the age of 52. But one cannot say that he was away from public service all this while. Starmer for the bulk of his career was spent as a human rights lawyer and had helped abolish the death penalty in many parts of Africa and also in the Caribbeans. He had also vocally advocated against the Iraq war as it was unlawful under international law. Four years after entering the parliament, Starmer quickly rose through the party ranks to be one of the moderate figures of Corbyn’s team of ministers.
Under Stramer’s leadership, the Labour Party went through a lot of changes. Labour’s policies for nationalizing public utilities have been cast aside by the promises to deliver the highest sustained growth among the G7 nations.
Focusing on economic growth
Labour Party is positioned as the party of business by Starmer and invites corporate leaders to bring in suggestions on its economic plans. The party has also shifted to the mainstream in terms of foreign policies and positioned itself as admittedly Atlanticist and pro-NATO. Starmer is gearing up for the next general elections with advice from the last two living prime ministers of the Labour Party, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair.