I have personally observed people breathing a collective sigh of relief following the results of the UK general election which brought Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, leading the Labour party, into power with a huge majority. I do not, however, hear a wide acclamation or celebration of the Labour victory apart, perhaps, from the sector of the Labour party which approve of their narrow band of policies, outlined in their manifesto, or promises to the country.
John Curtice, a leading UK pollster, suggested that it was not so much a huge victory for the Labour party, but much more a case of a major defeat for the Conservative party (Tories). On this, at least from a personal viewpoint, and from some traditional Labour and Conservative voters, we are agreed.
I do not wish to diminish the hard work undertaken by the Labour team under the Starmer leadership, for the years before the election, in building that strong team, and getting to know all the issues being dealt with by the Tories whilst they were in power. Nor do I wish to ignore the chaos of 14 years of Tory rule, but it has been discussed to death before.
I want, instead, to just pause for a moment to think about what is ahead of us as a country, both domestically, and what our involvement in foreign affairs might be. The first glimmer of hope for all of us ordinary citizens came in the statement of determination from Sir Keir Starmer on returning politics to the role of service to the people, instead of the self-serving corruption that has been seen from politicians of all stripes, in the last decade, in particular. This will be music to the ears of ordinary people sick of the worst excesses of all parties, but most particularly the politicians who took part in festivities, in complete disregard of their own Covid rules for the country, when just under 277,000 people died from Covid during the pandemic in the UK, amidst similar huge losses throughout the world.
Looking forward, the Labour Party, themselves, have acknowledged the huge challenge ahead, which will largely be predicated upon achieving much greater growth than their predecessors. That is a difficulty that the Tories failed to solve, alongside all the other major issues like the NHS, Housing, Immigration, Education, Environment, Energy, Cost of Living. And on the international stage, the war in Ukraine and the invasion of Gaza need solutions that we will be involved in. None of these things have gone away just because the government has changed.
One of the differences that is brought in by the Labour party is to tackle inequalities in the country by aiming to tax the wealthy, and choosing not to raise taxes that would most affect the poorest. But as everyone else has acknowledged, and is a subject avoided by the new government, is where the money is coming from to tackle all the things they wish to do, whilst pursuing growth in the longer term, given our current national debt, amounting to almost 100% of GDP.
Thus, the challenges remain, some of those that were the worst might be slightly better, and some of those that were better might be slightly worse as a result of the political approach, but one way or another there are the current challenges that still need resolving, and whatever future problems might arise to be solved.
I am neither politician nor economist, so don’t know what the answers are any more than most of my fellow citizens, but I am keen for the ordinary citizens to bear less of the weight, alongside especially wishing the most vulnerable to be most protected. And when the price comes, whether through raising debt, raising taxes or cutting services, it is done in a way that is fair for everyone, and not enacted out of political favouritism, one way or another, and with a better health and care system, despite any cuts to other public services.
We can’t always get what we want, and different people want different priorities to be addressed, but if the Labour party hold true to their promise to serve the people, and if they do actually achieve the growth and increase in investment into the country that they are pursuing, then perhaps we can begin to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. And that, in itself, will be welcomed by most ordinary people.
Fraser
July 2024