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Was Starmer 'too right wing' for Labour supporters?
There is a fallacy among the majority of left-wing Labour supporters that, once in power, Sir Keir Starmer dragged the party in such a right-wing direction that he lost their support (MetroTalk, Tue).
If only! Starmer’s token attempt to cut the benefits bill was swiftly withdrawn last summer and from then on he was a prisoner of his leftist parliamentary party.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood found that out when he disassociated himself from her modest attempts to reduce immigration.
The fact is, Starmer and Labour lost support when they failed to deliver on the nation’s priorities of removing illegal immigrants, reducing welfare state benefits, responding proactively to ‘low level’ crime and increasing defence spending. Otherwise, why has Reform held the lead in national polls for so long?
Does anyone think that Starmer’s likely replacement, Andy Burnham, is going to respond positively to this agenda?
Like Starmer, he is an instinctive anti-Thatcher, pro-welfare state and redistributionist politician who will not decisively shift the polls in Labour’s favour. Chris Shepherd, London
The heatwave isn’t the only thing reminscent of the ’70s…
Some are pointing out how the current heatwave is reminiscent of that of 1976. If Burnham becomes our next prime minister, we really will be back to the 70s – strikes, three-day weeks and power cuts will be back. Steve, Gateshead
‘Without support from your MPs, you were doomed’
Farewell, Sir Keir. You had a hard job and tried your best but without support from your MPs, you were doomed.
There wasn’t money in the Treasury. You tried to make savings but were forced into U-turns by MPs unwilling to face constituents affected by changes, for example about welfare reform.
Where else did your MPs expect money to come from? Essentially, your staff refused to do what you wanted and you backed down. You were the boss, you needed to be able to tell them to get on with it or face the consequences.
Burnham has done nothing so far but come out with crowd-pleasing soundbites, with no suggestion as to where the cuts to pay for them are coming from.
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When he gets around to those little details, things will get interesting. Will he be brave enough to force through unpopular policies for the greater good and tell his MPs to just get on with their jobs? Because that is what a leader does. Steve Maloney, Merseyside
‘Nigel Farage is correct’
Nigel Farage is correct in saying there should be a general election anytime a PM steps down. Nobody should be in charge of a nation unless elected by its people. Simon, Haywards Heath
‘People considering voting Reform would do well to remember the claims made by the Leave EU team’
I don’t recall Farage calling for a by-election every time an MP quit the Tories to join Reform. He only wants a general election now because his party are riding high in the polls and he sees Burnham as a credible threat.
People considering voting Reform would do well to remember the claims made by the Leave EU team before the referendum ten years ago, about how much better off we’d be – and remember who one of the main protagonists on the Leave campaign was. Steven Collett, Birmingham
Did Starmer do his best to overturn a ‘democratic vote’?
Isn’t it poetic justice that Sir Keir resigned ten years on, almost to the day, from the democratic vote that he did his best to overturn? Will Podmore, London
Will bond markets ‘turn the screw on us’?
The national debt stands at £2.9trillion and we’ll soon be at the point where the bond markets turn the screw on us.
In this respect it’s worth pointing out that Starmer’s ‘achievements’ have been paid for by taxing the working man and increasing the national debt. John Daniels, Redhill
Reader is ‘tired of the media’s default strategy of attempting to tear down any and every change that is introduced’
Craig Munro (Metro, Tue) suggests the upheaval since Brexit ‘has given us all a taste for political chaos’. This may well be true for many commentators, for whom each lurch in policy is grist to the mill.
It is emphatically not the case for much of the country’s population, who are tired of the media’s default strategy of attempting to tear down any and every change that is introduced. David Michael, Twickenham
Are those who supported Starmer ‘deranged’?
I’ve just read my last MetroTalk page. It’s nothing but opinions from deranged lefties. On Tuesday, we have readers praising Sir Keir Starmer, the worst PM Britain has ever had and a man accused of prosecuting British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland. I really hope Metro ceases publication. Steve, London
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