Will the real leader of the opposition please stand up? That is the question that Keir Starmer’s detractors are asking after the Labour leader was yesterday (10 August) upstaged by Gordon Brown on the cost-of-living crisis. The former prime minister has called for the government to suspend the increases to the energy price cap, ready the Universal Credit system to help those on benefits, and encourage energy companies to reduce their prices – and if all that doesn’t work, to temporarily nationalise them. Meanwhile, Starmer and his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, are on holiday.
It’s not unusual for politicians to be criticised for going on holiday, and normally it doesn’t stick. But the official absence of Starmer and Reeves right now adheres to the growing sense that Labour’s response to the cost-of-living crisis has been inadequate. As ever for a party in opposition, Labour has struggled to get attention over the summer. The railway strikes and the Conservative leadership contest have overshadowed its attempt to set out a vision for the country. Starmer’s recent speech on economic growth, for instance, barely registered with much of the media, partly due to a muddle over the party’s policy on nationalisation.
One shadow cabinet minister is worried that voters remain unclear about Labour’s plans on the economy. “People are still a bit confused by Labour and still trying to work out what kind of party we are,” they said. “And we’re not necessarily making it that easy for them.”
“If you say that Labour’s priorities are growth, growth, growth [as Starmer did in his speech], I’m not sure lots of people know what that really means,” they continued. However, the shadow minister thinks it’s a “fixable problem because once we’ve got a clear package [on the cost of living], it will kind of override everything else.”
Even though Starmer and Reeves are on holiday, I’m told they have, in fact, been working on a package this week. “I know that Keir and Rachel are actively working on [it],” one Labour source told me. Another said Reeves was “meant to be on holiday but she doesn’t seem to be resting much – she’s signing stuff off quickly”.
Labour’s ambition to be seen as a strong alternative to the government relies on its response to the cost-of-living crisis. This is not a short-term problem: energy prices are set to exceed £4,000 next year and the economy is poised to go into a recession. Starmer’s life will be much easier for the next few months if he quickly announces a policy that matches the scale of the problem.
I mean… He’s on holiday?
Before the Tory Crisis holiday, Rachel Reeves said a few things, on behalf of Labour:
>Government increase taxes on working people; a Labour Government would increase taxes on the big oil and gas companies.
>
>The cost of living crisis is being made worse by a wage crisis, as years of Conservative Governments have failed to stand up for working people. At the Conservative party conference last year, the Prime Minister bragged of plans for a high-wage economy. How is that going? Let me update the House. In the six months since then, average real-terms pay has not risen, but fallen. Behind the headline figures, data released yesterday by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows not only that workers are experiencing a fall in their real pay, but that the gap between those earning most and those earning least is widening. For the hospital porters, the supermarket assistants, the delivery drivers—the very people who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to keep this country going—wages are in no way keeping up with the rising cost of living
>
>Our scheme is very clear. We would introduce a windfall tax, use that money to reduce VAT on gas and electricity bills from 5% to zero, and expand the warm home discount from the measly £140 that people get today to £400. We would fund that through the windfall tax, through the additional VAT receipts that the Government are getting in at the moment because prices are so high, and through receipts from the additional corporation tax that the oil and gas companies are paying. The Government will end up doing this. The only question is when they will get on and deliver for their constituents. Oil and gas companies are making record profits and people are paying record bills
Labour have said a lot of good stuff (in the source)
Blame Labour or Blame Starmer is just a Tory + Media deflection tbh
I know senior politicians shouldn’t leave during a crisis, but with this government every single day for the last three years is a crisis and the last one doesn’t end before a new one starts.
If you’d faced Johnson and his baying mob in the Commons for the last few months you’d deserve a holiday
5 comments
Will the real leader of the opposition please stand up? That is the question that Keir Starmer’s detractors are asking after the Labour leader was yesterday (10 August) upstaged by Gordon Brown on the cost-of-living crisis. The former prime minister has called for the government to suspend the increases to the energy price cap, ready the Universal Credit system to help those on benefits, and encourage energy companies to reduce their prices – and if all that doesn’t work, to temporarily nationalise them. Meanwhile, Starmer and his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, are on holiday.
It’s not unusual for politicians to be criticised for going on holiday, and normally it doesn’t stick. But the official absence of Starmer and Reeves right now adheres to the growing sense that Labour’s response to the cost-of-living crisis has been inadequate. As ever for a party in opposition, Labour has struggled to get attention over the summer. The railway strikes and the Conservative leadership contest have overshadowed its attempt to set out a vision for the country. Starmer’s recent speech on economic growth, for instance, barely registered with much of the media, partly due to a muddle over the party’s policy on nationalisation.
One shadow cabinet minister is worried that voters remain unclear about Labour’s plans on the economy. “People are still a bit confused by Labour and still trying to work out what kind of party we are,” they said. “And we’re not necessarily making it that easy for them.”
“If you say that Labour’s priorities are growth, growth, growth [as Starmer did in his speech], I’m not sure lots of people know what that really means,” they continued. However, the shadow minister thinks it’s a “fixable problem because once we’ve got a clear package [on the cost of living], it will kind of override everything else.”
Even though Starmer and Reeves are on holiday, I’m told they have, in fact, been working on a package this week. “I know that Keir and Rachel are actively working on [it],” one Labour source told me. Another said Reeves was “meant to be on holiday but she doesn’t seem to be resting much – she’s signing stuff off quickly”.
Labour’s ambition to be seen as a strong alternative to the government relies on its response to the cost-of-living crisis. This is not a short-term problem: energy prices are set to exceed £4,000 next year and the economy is poised to go into a recession. Starmer’s life will be much easier for the next few months if he quickly announces a policy that matches the scale of the problem.
I mean… He’s on holiday?
Before the Tory Crisis holiday, Rachel Reeves said a few things, on behalf of Labour:
[source](https://www.ukpol.co.uk/rachel-reeves-2022-speech-on-achieving-economic-growth/)
>Government increase taxes on working people; a Labour Government would increase taxes on the big oil and gas companies.
>
>The cost of living crisis is being made worse by a wage crisis, as years of Conservative Governments have failed to stand up for working people. At the Conservative party conference last year, the Prime Minister bragged of plans for a high-wage economy. How is that going? Let me update the House. In the six months since then, average real-terms pay has not risen, but fallen. Behind the headline figures, data released yesterday by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows not only that workers are experiencing a fall in their real pay, but that the gap between those earning most and those earning least is widening. For the hospital porters, the supermarket assistants, the delivery drivers—the very people who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to keep this country going—wages are in no way keeping up with the rising cost of living
>
>Our scheme is very clear. We would introduce a windfall tax, use that money to reduce VAT on gas and electricity bills from 5% to zero, and expand the warm home discount from the measly £140 that people get today to £400. We would fund that through the windfall tax, through the additional VAT receipts that the Government are getting in at the moment because prices are so high, and through receipts from the additional corporation tax that the oil and gas companies are paying. The Government will end up doing this. The only question is when they will get on and deliver for their constituents. Oil and gas companies are making record profits and people are paying record bills
Labour have said a lot of good stuff (in the source)
Blame Labour or Blame Starmer is just a Tory + Media deflection tbh
I know senior politicians shouldn’t leave during a crisis, but with this government every single day for the last three years is a crisis and the last one doesn’t end before a new one starts.
If you’d faced Johnson and his baying mob in the Commons for the last few months you’d deserve a holiday