{"id":107701,"date":"2026-08-20T19:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/107701\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T19:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:43:13","slug":"why-have-spains-socialists-fared-better-than-britains-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/107701\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Have Spain\u2019s Socialists Fared Better Than Britain\u2019s Labour?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> resigned from his post and was replaced by Andy Burnham<\/a>, the former mayor of Greater Manchester. Starmer\u2019s downfall was precipitous and embarrassing. He held office for less than two years after being elected in a landslide 2024 vote that saw his Labour Party oust the long-ruling Conservatives.<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s fate contrasts starkly with that of his Spanish counterpart and ideological peer, Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez. Christened by the New Statesman<\/a> as \u201cEurope\u2019s left-wing icon,\u201d S\u00e1nchez recently entered his eighth year in office and is gearing up for reelection next year. He has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic; the surge of the far-right Vox party; corruption scandals involving members of his own family; and a host of calamities, including some of the worst wildfires<\/a> in Spanish history and an immigration crisis that last month saw some 70,000 people storm Ceuta<\/a>, a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco.<\/p>\n

Last month, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> resigned from his post and was replaced by Andy Burnham<\/a>, the former mayor of Greater Manchester. Starmer\u2019s downfall was precipitous and embarrassing. He held office for less than two years after being elected in a landslide 2024 vote that saw his Labour Party oust the long-ruling Conservatives.<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s fate contrasts starkly with that of his Spanish counterpart and ideological peer, Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez. Christened by the New Statesman<\/a> as \u201cEurope\u2019s left-wing icon,\u201d S\u00e1nchez recently entered his eighth year in office and is gearing up for reelection next year. He has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic; the surge of the far-right Vox party; corruption scandals involving members of his own family; and a host of calamities, including some of the worst wildfires<\/a> in Spanish history and an immigration crisis that last month saw some 70,000 people storm Ceuta<\/a>, a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco.<\/p>\n

The two leaders\u2019 divergent paths are striking considering that S\u00e1nchez leads a very fragile coalition government; his Spanish Socialist Workers\u2019 Party (PSOE) does not even hold the largest number of seats in the Congress of Deputies, Spain\u2019s lower house of parliament. That distinction belongs to the conservative People\u2019s Party, or PP. In the 2024 U.K. elections, on the other hand, Labour won 411 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons, giving Starmer one of the largest working majorities in British history, which he then failed to exploit. And while both leaders must contend with separatist parties, Scottish separatists are a picture of loyalty compared to the Catalans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Much about S\u00e1nchez\u2019s and Starmer\u2019s political fates can be gleaned from the state of their respective economies. Fueled by a post-pandemic tourism surge, Spain has become Europe\u2019s fastest-growing economy, with growth reaching 2.9 percent<\/a> in 2025, far outpacing the eurozone average of 1.5 percent. In 2024, the Spanish economy expanded by almost 4 percent, leading the Economist to rate Spain as the world\u2019s top rich economy<\/a> for that year. Britain, on the other hand, has had a harder time rebounding from the pandemic. Compared to Spain, economic growth in Britain has been lackluster, increasing<\/a> to 1.3 percent in 2025, up from 1 percent in 2024.<\/p>\n

But there is more to the story. For starters, historical forces shaped the political fortunes of S\u00e1nchez and Starmer. Traditionally one of Europe\u2019s most politically explosive environments, Spain has enjoyed remarkable stability in recent decades. Since the introduction of a new democratic constitution in 1978 that ended 40 years of military dictatorship, Spain has had only seven leaders, with an average stay in office of six years. By contrast, Britain, a bastion of political continuity in the postwar era, has become ungovernable<\/a> in recent years. Since the 2016 Brexit referendum, six prime ministers have been sworn in. One of them, Liz Truss, was in office for only 49 days.<\/p>\n

Ideological cohesion within the left is another issue. S\u00e1nchez\u2019s leftist coalition is anchored on two main parties\u2014the PSOE and Sumar, itself a multi-party electoral alliance of as many as 15 progressive parties. But there is very little daylight among them on the major issues\u2014they all support immigration<\/a> and European integration and are fiercely opposed to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran<\/a>. Despite ruling as a single entity, meanwhile, Britain\u2019s Labour Party seems incapable of speaking with one voice, much less acting in unison. A case in point is immigration, which is tearing the party apart. As he tried to deal with a challenge from the right, Starmer took a hard line, claiming<\/a> last year that immigration has turned Britain into \u201can island of strangers.\u201d That remark, for which he has expressed regret, dismayed many members in his party.<\/p>\n

The war in Iran also exposed significant fault lines within Labour. Starmer attempted to tread a delicate balance on the conflict by allowing U.S. President Donald Trump to use U.K. bases only for \u201cdefensive<\/a>\u201d purposes. That position stood in stark contrast to S\u00e1nchez\u2019s decision to fully bar the United States from using jointly operated Spanish-U.S. military bases in Spain to fight the war. But Starmer\u2019s more cautious approach did not do him any favors, instead creating considerable consternation within Labour\u2019s progressive wing.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it was their capacity to lead and survive (or not) that made the biggest difference between S\u00e1nchez or Starmer. This is also the realm where Burnham and other left-wing leaders\u2014British or not\u2014can learn the most from Spain\u2019s prime minister. As The American Prospect put it<\/a>, Labour (under Starmer) had \u201ceverything going for it except leadership, vision, and nerve.\u201d The incongruity with S\u00e1nchez could not be starker. His time in office is a masterclass in what it takes for a left-wing politician to succeed in a hostile environment.<\/p>\n

Much has been made<\/a> of S\u00e1nchez\u2019s capacity to lead with conviction. Among his core beliefs is that leftist leaders cannot succeed by emulating their right-wing counterparts. (Starmer\u2019s waffling on immigration might be a case in point.) But not enough has been said about S\u00e1nchez\u2019s audacity, which I previously detailed<\/a> in the New York Times.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez became prime minister in 2018 by staging a political comeback unlike any other in contemporary European politics. In 2016, after a disastrous loss in that year\u2019s general election, followed by his resignation from the Congress of Deputies, S\u00e1nchez regained control of the PSOE via a primary election in which he ran against his party\u2019s establishment. He then persuaded the PSOE to organize a no-confidence vote against then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the People\u2019s Party, who was embroiled in a flurry of political scandals. S\u00e1nchez, who at the time was not a sitting member of parliament, emerged as Spain\u2019s next leader. It was the first time in Spanish history that anyone had reached power by removing a sitting prime minister.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez has governed with the confidence of someone who was handed an electoral mandate. Among other policy accomplishments, he has increased the minimum wage by some 60 percent; reformed labor laws to protect women and LGBTQ+ people from workplace discrimination; enacted Europe\u2019s most generous immigration policy (including amnesty to some 500,000 undocumented workers earlier this year); removed former dictator Francisco Franco\u2019s remains from state property; and enacted a reparations law to bring some measure of accountability to Franco\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez\u2019s foreign policy has been just as bold. Before becoming the global face of opposition to the Iran war<\/a>, Spain was the only NATO member to oppose an increase in military spending and to openly confront Washington on its tariffs. S\u00e1nchez was also the first major European leader to label the war in Gaza as genocide and one of the first to recognize Palestine as a state. These policies have made S\u00e1nchez the darling of progressives abroad while boosting his popularity at home, which in recent months has been hurt by a web of corruption scandals involving his wife<\/a> and brother<\/a>. The controversies have led the opposition to call for early elections and may put S\u00e1nchez\u2019s reelection in doubt.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an open question whether Burnham can overcome the structural forces undermining political stability in Britain, many of them set in motion by Brexit. Not surprisingly, some political forecasters have already predicted<\/a> his failure. But at least when it comes to leadership, there are reasons to believe that he might fare better than his predecessor.<\/p>\n

For one thing, there are echoes of S\u00e1nchez\u2019s audacity in Burnham\u2019s rise to power. Like S\u00e1nchez, Burnham previously resigned from parliament after failing to achieve the goals of leading his party and country. But he managed to reinvent himself away from the spotlight and, with the help of a skillfully plotted comeback, was able to get party insiders\u2014rather than the electorate\u2014to put him in office. Burnham resigned from his job as mayor of Greater Manchester only last month so that he could run for a parliamentary seat and then replace Starmer. That was in no small measure an act of political opportunism; as recently as last year, Burnham said that he was not interested in becoming prime minister. But he quickly changed his mind after dozens of Labour legislators declared their desire for new leadership and pledged to support him.<\/p>\n

Burnham\u2019s capacity to lead is also enhanced by his background. Unlike Starmer, whose appeal rested on the perception that he was not a career politician, Burnham, like S\u00e1nchez, has made politics his career. Burnham is also a party man, having been a central figure in Labour for decades. He can draw on this experience to maneuver the various factions within the party and keep potential challengers at bay.<\/p>\n

Luckily for Burnham, his predecessor gave him the gift of an early departure. Britain\u2019s next elections are not expected until August 2029, which gives him plenty of time to try and right the ship. As he attempts this feat, the so-called \u201cKing of the North<\/a>\u201d would do well to look south for survival strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned from his post and was replaced by Andy Burnham, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,2109,7704,14,13833,2155],"class_list":["post-107701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-britain","tag-geopolitics","tag-homepage_regional_europe","tag-politics","tag-socialism","tag-spain"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117129550606977213","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}