Since becoming Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer has ditched so many supposedly cast-iron pledges it’s positively dizzying.
So given his track record, is Brexit safe in the Prime Minister’s hands? He says it is, but can he be trusted?
In opposition, Sir Keir was adamant he would not seek to restore freedom of movement with the European Union. That, he said, was a ‘red line’.
Now he’s safely in No 10, things appear to have changed. With Labour sources floating the idea of bringing it back for EU nationals aged under 30, the suspicion grows that his pre-election promise was nothing more than a canard to dupe Leave supporters.
This apparent concession is part of Sir Keir’s plan to ‘reset’ relations with Brussels after Brexit. Young Europeans would have a right to live and work here for a set number of years, with the UK granted reciprocity.
Since becoming Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer (pictured outside 10 Downing Street) has ditched so many supposedly cast-iron pledges it’s positively dizzying
Keir Starmer, then shadow Brexit Secretary, follows Jeremy Corbyn in Brussels ahead of the European Leaders’ summit in 2019. Starmer is a staunch remainer
But how many would come here? Potentially huge numbers – especially as chronic youth unemployment blights the Continent.
Yes, this country desperately needs nurses, carers and rural workers. But why not get the millions who are sick or on the dole back into work, while incentivising automation to remove the need for labour?
And is there really a case for ever looser immigration rules? In the past two years, net migration was a barely believable 1.4million.
Voters know from bitter experience that mass migration has resulted in downward pressure on wages, housing shortages, intolerable strain on public services and the breakdown of social cohesion.
Foreign criminals could also stroll in unhindered. Of course, soon enough the cry would go up that since under-30s have free movement, we should extend it to all EU citizens.
This would be a slippery slope to rejoining the single market and customs union.
Who would bet against Sir Keir, a staunch Remainer, agreeing to this? Restoring any free movement would betray the majority who voted for Brexit, partly to regain control of our borders.
People are already angry over politicians’ repeated failure to reduce immigration. To propose this now suggests Labour’s political antennae is badly awry.
Head of Camden Council Georgia Gould and Keir Starmer pose with an EU flag at a rally against Brexit in 2019
Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the Meeting of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace in July 2024
Keir’s union blues
Speaking of political tin ears, did Sir Keir seriously believe he would win plaudits from voters for handing the train drivers a bumper pay rise?
If so, our poll today shows how spectacularly wrong he was.
A majority of the public say the PM was wrong to capitulate to the Aslef union’s 14 per cent wage claim.
And nearly half think he should have faced down the militants – even if it meant strikes went on for longer.
By effectively rewarding Labour’s union donors for paralysing the rail network, the Government has incentivised the public sector unions to threaten more industrial action if their demands aren’t met.
The public knows, even if Sir Keir doesn’t, that paying ransom money never works. The blackmailer always returns for more.
Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves take a train to Hampshire during the general election campaign in June 2024
A fresh injustice
Securing compensation for the postmasters whose lives were ruined when the Post Office wrongly prosecuted them has been like drawing blood from a stone.
So how appalling that lawyers representing the disgraced firm at the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal have trousered almost as much in fees – a staggering £257million.
Yes, legal practices have every right to make a living. But the sums they’re pocketing while innocent postmasters fight for every penny piles injustice upon injustice.