Keir Starmer's Struggling Government: What He Must Do to Save It

Keir Starmer's government is facing a perfect storm of challenges, from the threat of Nigel Farage to the rise of the Green party's new leader, Zack Polanski, an admirer of Jeremy Corbyn. The loss of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is a significant blow, but Starmer's problems run deeper. To save his government, Starmer must focus on delivery, not just on messaging. He needs to show progress on the voters' top three priorities: boosting the NHS, driving down the cost of living, and cutting back on small boat arrivals and immigration.

Key Takeaways:

• Starmer's government must show significant progress on the voters' top three priorities: boosting the NHS, driving down the cost of living, and cutting back on small boat arrivals and immigration.
• To achieve this, the government can focus on economic growth, which can be boosted by removing planning barriers to investment and increasing productivity.
• The government can also expect to see people feeling genuinely better off as a result of a suite of actions to tackle cost-of-living pressures, including increasing the minimum wage, boosting benefits, and making ambitious housing investments.
• Ministers can force the tabloids to take notice by shutting asylum hotels one by one, an outcome that can be realistically achieved by tackling the backlog in asylum appeals.
• Starmer has four years for his programme to pay dividends, and his record of delivery will leave Nigel Farage painfully exposed.
• The government must also be aware of the threat within its own party from leftwingers intent on forcing the government to take a different course, and manage damaging split rumours effectively.
• Criticised on all sides, actions are Starmer's best retort to his critics.

Statistics:

• Growth was good in the first quarter of the year and better than expected in the second in spite of Trump's tariffs.
• Inflation was higher than expected this year but falls are forecast to near the Bank of England target of two per cent next year.
• The government has a record of delivery to achieve in four years to leave Nigel Farage painfully exposed.

Sources:

• Herald columnist Rebecca McQuillan
• TV appearances
• Twitter: @becmcq.bsky.social and @BecMcQ