It’s as if Labour is already in government and the Tories in Opposition
Keir Starmer, who is likely to be a shoo-in, could afford to be rather more candid with the public than he is is proving a lucky general – the kind Napoleon once said he would prefer to one who was good. It’s not just the incidentals of theso far: Rishi Sunak’s rain-soaked announcement about 4 July; the discovery that his parliamentary private secretary had already placed an uncannily accurate bet on the date; and his catastrophic early exit from the D-Day commemorations.
Enjoying a honeymoon period before even getting to Downing Street, it’s as if Starmer is already in government and the Tories in Opposition – and a woefully weak Opposition at that. Which hardly enhances the quality of the debate in this election or indeed of British democracy itself. The lack of real challenge means that he has enjoyed even more latitude in laying out – or not laying out – his post-election plans in Labour’s manifesto than all political parties habitually do.
While ruling out increases in income tax, VAT and corporation tax, Starmer has been realistic enough to acknowledge £8.6bn in other taxes will have to rise to pay for its “green prosperity plan” and other spending.
What is less clear is how fast and far-reaching the impact of such measures will be. To take one possible problem, labour shortages could hamper progress. In the long term, that could be solved by the quantum leap in skills training sensibly envisaged in the manifesto; in the short term by more foreign labour – but that looks like a non-starter given Starmer’s tough stance on immigration.
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