All Hopes for a Changed Britain

On the 5th of July, the world sat in shock as 14 years of Tory rule came to an end. The map turned from blue to red overnight, and for many Englishmen it felt like it was hard not to feel a kind of cathartic cleanse. This was as close to a Tory wipeout as any definition in the Oxford dictionary.

But regardless of where your loyalties lie, anyone will admit that the Labour Party swept to a stunning victory, almost matching Tony Blair’s record landslide in 1997.

At first glance, the outcome appears to stand in stark contrast to the upcoming elections in the United States, where President Joe Biden has stepped aside throwing his support behind his vice president, Kamala Harris, in the hopes of quickly coalescing the Democratic Party and moving past the chaos that has engulfed Democrats since the ghastly debate between Biden and Trump (who is at his strongest point in the campaign, coming out of a completely unified Republican National Convention with a base rallying around him after the attempt on his life) in June. Biden took to X with two posts on Sunday afternoon, bowing out of the race. And France where President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist faction is polling in third place against far-left and far-right rivals.

But this isn’t a story of Britain turning far-left or far-right. Or the story of how other countries within the EU are posing far-leftist or far-rightist tendencies. No. This is a story about broken promises and broken trust; about failing public services and household bills that can’t be paid and a collective need for change.

Times in Britain are tough

While it’s apt to say that there is a financial crisis in countries around the world, one could say that the situation in Britain is dire. Take this excerpt from Politico as a shining example –

“Britain is not in a good way. Living costs have spiralled over recent years, yet the tax take is the highest it’s been since 1950. The average home costs £281,000, up nearly £100,000 in a decade. Food bank use has almost doubled in five years.

The (still-beloved) National Health Service has 7.6 million cases waiting for treatment in England alone, almost triple what it was a decade ago. Dental patients have pulled out their own teeth with pliers. Long-term sickness is up by a third since Covid-19. Of the 3.4 million people now claiming Britain’s main disability benefit, more than a third have psychiatric disorders.

Potholes pit the roads. Prisons are full. Petty crimes take six months to go through court. Social care reform is long promised, but never delivered. Two-fifths of universities are headed into deficit. Multiple local councils have issued bankruptcy notices. Sewage overflows into rivers during heavy rain.”

And again, we reiterate that this election had nothing to do with left-wing vs right-wing. But it has everything to do with Britain needing a change – something echoed in the Labour Party’s election slogan which contained just one word — “change.” The right-wing party Reform UK led by Nigel Farage had a slogan that touched on a similar theme “Britain is broken.” Both sent a very clear message to all who bothered to listen – something needed to happen, something needed to change. And now.

With all of the discontent, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand why there’s disillusionment with the government, which explains why actual voter turnout being the second lowest in a century. To make matters even less celebratory, no one is doing cartwheels to celebrate the election result. People are just happy there is some change – or the possibility of change.  

So, instead of celebrating the ‘landslide victory,” something Tony Blair would have done in his 1997 victory, Starmer inherits a somewhat fractured, slightly battered country that has – in truth – little hope for change (because they haven’t had any yet) but are desperate for it.

What has the Labour Party promised?

If you go onto the Labour Party’s website it appears hopeful and bright and almost cheery – like it knows for a certainty something no one else knows. It states that Starmer has changed the Labour Party and developed a long-term plan for Britain, with five key missions for government. Across the economy, the NHS, education, crime, clean energy and more. It even lists Labour’s policies – the ones they believe will get Britain “back on track” –

1. Deliver two million more NHS appointments a year;
2. Set up Great British Energy, a new publicly owned British energy company; 
3. Closing private education tax loopholes to improve schools;
4. Bring back the family doctor and improve local NHS care;
5. Stop water bosses’ bonuses when their companies harm the environment;
6. End hotel use for asylum seekers;
7. Greater support for victims of violence against women;
8. Put passengers first and establish Great British Railways;
9. Make the minimum wage a genuine living wage, and
10. Free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England.

They even set out how they will do it.

But the problem is, according to the findings from the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) report, from the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), that –

• A record high of 45% now say they ‘almost never’ trust governments of any party to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own political party. This is 22 points above the figure recorded in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.
• As many as 58%, also a record high, say they ‘almost never’ trust ‘politicians of any party in Britain to tell the truth when they are in a tight corner’, up 19 points from 2020.
• 79% say the system of governing Britain could be improved ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a great deal’, matching the record low recorded during the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit in 2019. The figure is up 18 points in 2020.

The British Social Attitudes Report has been measuring public opinion since 1983. And if the above are record highs, then that is saying something.

It’s safe to say that there is public disillusionment, not just with politics but with the ability of the government to deliver. Anything.

Starmer will have to work ferociously if he is going to win over the public and prove that he is able to change Britain – as he promised – and that he is able to carry out the policies that will get Britain back on track – as he has bravely undertaken.

But the cogs of government are slow to turn. Decisions don’t get made in a day. Or in a month. In fact, few decisions taken in the coming months will bear any fruit until at least 2026. Realistically speaking. And with the public yearning, begging, expecting change immediately, it’s going to be a challenging task. If Starmer doesn’t make it clear – from the get-go – that the change that is expected will take at least a full term to two terms in office to see into fruition, it will, yet again, appear as if another government is failing.

In fact, this might be a case of under-promise and over-deliver to save your tail kind of politics. At least in the long run. In the immediate future, open communication is going to be key. Not simply offering up an election manifesto that offers a bold vision, but few concrete solutions.

If one were to question how Labours’ policies differ from those of the Torys,’ one could easily say – nothing. And herein lies the problem. The “new” Labour Party, completely changed and overhauled by Starmer is nothing like the Labour Party of old - in 1945, in 1964 and in 1974 where there was a contest between capitalism and social democracy, between two different sorts of parties. Starmer’s Labour does not believe that the key voting parts of the British public want change, and it may well not believe in serious change itself. As set out in the article Labour is telling Britain it is now a conservative party – and we should believe it, Labour now - 

“believes in the sagacity of private capital and thinks it will unleash growth through financial orthodoxy and deregulation – exactly the policy not only of the past 14 years, but the past 40. Labour very obviously no longer believes in the programmes of 1945, 1964 or 1974. Like New Labour, it believes in the power of capitalism, whether entrepreneurs or financiers. Labour no longer believes as it once did that it had a more truthful account of the country than the Tories: it believes and tells Tory stories about the nature of public spending or foreign policy. It may be the cost, Labour people may say, of operating in a Tory world, but it may be an indication too that Labour has become like the Tory party.”

And with that revelation of Britain needing and wanting change but it nowhere to be seen, what with the labour party being very much like the Tory Party but expected to make radical change overnight, one fears that the Labour Party may have bitten off more than they can chew…

We will conclude this article with the conclusion of Politico’s article because it really does sum everything up in a way that cannot be bested –

“Things can only get better” was Blair’s 1997 campaign anthem. Britain’s voters, in dissonant, cacophonous voice, have told Starmer that is exactly what they want. Now, somehow, he has to deliver it.”

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(Sources used and to whom we give thanks – Labour.org; AP News; The Guardian here and here; Politico; CNN and National Centre of Social Research).

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