I’ll swim with you. With the scale of corruption displayed by the previous government which largely led to its downfall, it is clear there is a strategy from those who oppose Starmer’s government to paint them as the same. What Rayner did was wrong, and even in the unlikely event it wasn’t an error, it pales into insignificance with the sheer amount of pocket lining that has gone on in the last decade. Similarly, the sheer onslaught of “Starmer’s position is untenable” stories coming out of Westminster almost from the very start, for things that would have gone entirely unchecked in previous governments, has been an obvious ploy to cast the Labour Government as having the same revolving door of leaders we saw in the dying years of the Conservatives term in office. Another attempt to say “see, it wasn’t just us, they are terrible too”
I’ve been an avid follower of politics since I was about ten years old. In the 40 years since, I have never seen a government whose positive achievements have been largely ignored. There has been very little reporting about the successes of this government and before anyone piles on, yes there have been some. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has a number of changes which adds a number of protections for working people. The Water (Special Measures) Act has a number of measures aimed at stopping the pollution of our waterways. NHS waiting lists have reduced and nearly 2000 more GPs have been recruited. Improved relations with the EU have mitigated some of the worst effects of Brexit. It isn’t enough, nothing ever will be and even these will have their critics, but for none this to have been headline grabbing is very unusual. IPSOS did some polling which showed that the decrease in support for labours policies is directly correlated to whether people were aware of the policy or not. The more a policy is reported, the less likely it was to be supported. That tells a story in itself when the reporting is almost exclusively framed as a negative.
There is a very deliberate attempt to highlight negative press for the Labour Government, to destabilise it and force another election. This suits the aims of a whole number of different groups whether it be Reform and those pushing for a more right wing establishment, Conservatives in a desperate plan to claw themselves back from the cavernous depths they plummeted to, the PLP who never wanted Starmer in the first place and who are embarrassed by his perceived failures, and in Scotland, the SNP who are facing elections where they risk once again becoming second place to Labour.
Rest assured, none of those groups, not one, are doing so because they believe it will benefit the people of the UK. It is all about political standing.
I am not a Labour supporter. I’m a centrist who has also voted left and right over the years for a variety of reasons. If there were an election right now, I’d probably vote Labour again, (although the Greens are appealing to me for the first time). My reasons are simple. When you have a government who are consistently making very unpopular decisions, and having to pull back on them when the noise got too much, you can guarantee they aren’t doing it for political gain and are genuinely trying to turn the ship around. You can argue whether their way is the right way and whether they are going to succeed at it but you can’t argue with their motives. For example, the attempts within the budgets so far have been about trying to balance the books and encourage growth in the economy. Indeed the main criticisms have not been “this won’t work” it’s been “they said they wouldn’t”. As far as I can tell, the biggest mistake Labour made was to make promises they didn’t need to make, before they knew whether they could keep them. Cutting winter fuel payments was the right thing to do. Targeting wealthy people using farming to avoid inheritance tax was the right thing to do. They seem to be looking for where money is going to wealthy people rather than the poorest. Isn’t that what we want?
Do not fear, opponents of Starmer, he will not go the distance. He had a monumentally difficult task and is being hampered at every turn. You will soon be able to cheer his downfall. Be careful what you wish for, because it is likely that the next leader will face the same issues and if it is Rayner, she will also be pushed off the glass cliff. Then, next election, Farage will be your dear leader and you will yearn for the ‘shitshow’ we have now.