Last Updated on 04/09/2024 by Arun jain
LONDON – At the start of Labour’s first government for 14 years, armed with a huge majority, Keir Starr looks decidedly downbeat. And he wants it the same way.
With England’s towns and cities engulfed in riots, after beginning a test for their premiership, Prime Minister’s Speech Monday wasn’t exactly a wreath of smiles before Parliament returned from its summer recess.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he said, speaking from the garden of No 10 Downing Street. “The budget is coming up in October, and it’s going to be painful.”
The new PM’s message reflects ominous voices from his chancellor Rachel Reeves, who insisted in the House of Commons this week that she faces “tough decisions” on tax and spending as a result of the “black hole” left by the outgoing Conservative government. is .
A symbolic cut has already been announcedReeves, as the UK’s top finance minister, scrapped universal payments to pensioners to help with energy bills.
There is clear logic behind the grim drumbeat, as ministers try to lay the groundwork for the cuts expected in the next budget, and strengthen their reputation for fiscal responsibility.
Yet some – including both political opponents and Labor insiders – are beginning to question whether all this doom and gloom is being laid on too thick.
George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor who launched a program of massive spending cuts in the 2010s, told POLITICO that Labor is missing out on any promise of “sunlit highlands” that will tell voters what to expect.
“They have to somehow set a more positive agenda so people can say ‘I understand why they’re cutting winter fuel payments, because they want to achieve these things,'” he said.
difficult times
Warning words from the top of the Labor Party about tough times ahead have been consistent throughout the year, as Starmer and Reeves led their party to victory by pledging to turn the page on an era of Tory mismanagement.
Economic credibility has been Labor’s Achilles heel in the past – but Liz Truce’s disastrous 49 days in office, which sent markets into freefall, turned that on its head and saw Labor has overtaken the Conservatives.
Eager to undermine this new-found aura of economic competence, the party has enforced a strict message discipline around Reeves’ maxim: “If we can’t afford it, we can’t do it.”
The dire warnings have sparked speculation that the new government is preparing the ground for possible tax hikes, cuts in public spending and scrapping of key infrastructure projects in the budget due on October 30.
There are other rationales associated with Starmer’s mission to rebuild trust with the public. His brand of openness is sometimes seen as part of that process, in contrast to the previous government’s approach of simply hammering away at positive economic news.
When inflation fell in May, Reeves told chancellor Jeremy Hunt that “now is not the time to be popping the champagne cork” – making sure talk of turning a corner didn’t match the public mood.
Labour’s election chief, Pat McFadden – himself a former fiscal watchdog for the party as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury – and campaign director Morgan McSweeney have also been key in trying to steer clear of overconfidence about the economy’s health.
A party aide who worked with McSweeney during the election described him as “Mr Misery Guts” and “such a relentless focus on not taking anything for granted.”
Loss of sunlight
But when Starr boasts a large and outwardly united parliamentary party, all these troubles begin to subside.
Osborne, who admitted that Labor was trying to copy the playbook it used when it took over the Treasury in 2010, contrasted the current government’s strategy with that adopted by Gordon Brown as chancellor in Tony Blair’s Labor government in 1997.
Brown used the phrase “prudence for a purpose” in his first budget and, as Osborne says, “the Blair-Brown government had a very clear understanding of the mission — and I don’t think they did. [Starmer and Reeves] Yet it did.”
“At this rate, every single headline for the next two months will be about the budget rather than anything else they’re doing,” he added. “There is no optimism message. What is it for?”
Similarly, Peter Mandelson, Blair’s former right-hand man, told the BBC’s Westminster Hour that the government needed to “show what the sacrifices are” by providing some light at the end of the tunnel.
The sentiment was echoed by a former senior civil servant who recently left the high-spending department and is not authorized to speak publicly. “I think it’s a good idea to cut winter fuel payments, but at some point you need to have a conversation about what it all helps,” they said.
Similarly, the newly elected Labor MP, who also granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the government had not “pitch rolled” to remove the winter fuel payment, and while it could have been reduced for the poorest pensioners, it had left them out. had given There is concern about what will come in the budget.
Enough with the darkness
The same Labor aide quoted above said that while he understood the principle behind the pessimistic view, “you need some light and shade.”
Another labor official, speaking anonymously, also complained that the government was not publicizing its own policies enough, allowing the news cycle to be filled with pessimistic speculation about the budget. “Where’s all the good news?” they asked angrily.
Starmer’s spokesman this week appropriately dryly defended his methods, asking reporters about his bleak attitude, saying: “Only with economic growth can you get the tax receipts that you need to fund public services and raise living standards across the board. country.”
In response to Osborne’s comments, a senior government official said his criticism “should hardly come as a surprise” and that Labor “will now take tough decisions to clean up the mess he and his party have left behind.”
So far, everything is going as planned by the PM and his Chancellor. Just don’t expect many laughs along the way.
Dan Bloom contributed reporting.
Post Cheers, Keir! Starmer of the UK asked to be relaxed appeared first Politico.