It’s a tricky time for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. They’re well ahead in the polls but have little to say on strikes: bankrolled by the unions, they are nevertheless unable to support the cause because of their remorseless mission to prove their political credibility. They need to look sober, sane and sensible: wild spending pledges are out, jettisoned in favour of fiscal restraint.
Having shed themselves of the ideological baggage of the Corbyn years, Labour have instead resorted to often just criticising government policies on the grounds of practicality. Take efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, for instance. Labour knows that such measures are popular: God forbid they be depicted as standing up for free movement of people, as, er, Keir Starmer did in April 2020. The party’s spin doctors have therefore hit upon a brilliant wheeze by describing Tory schemes as simply ‘unworkable’ rather than objecting on the grounds of principle.
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