Starmer’s dilemma: he’s not an alternative to the Tories and he isn’t even interesting
Stiff as a board: Keir Starmer simply isn’t interesting – and he doesn’t have any policies worth supporting.
The opinion polls suggest a landslide general election victory for the Labour Party – not because Keir Starmer’s policies are any good but because people are so sick of the Tories that any old rubbish will seem better.
It is likely to have the lowest turnout, as a percentage of the electorate, of any election since universal suffrage was introduced, meaning there will be strong arguments that whichever party forms the next government will not have a mandate and proportional representation should be introduced to restore power to the people.
The problem is that any government formed by Starmer will be as right-wing as Rishi Sunak’s, with policies that are indistinguishable from those of Sunak’s administration. In other words, none of Starmer’s policies will work either.
And the UK’s electorate doesn’t turn out to elect right-wing governments. We don’t like them.
Consider the following:
ALL post-war UK general elections & opinion polls consistently show that around two-thirds of UK adults do not want – & do not vote for – right-wing Govts.
Concerning the next GE, here's two world-leading experts in their fields that, imho, @Keir_Starmer should pay attention to: pic.twitter.com/8N3F7SNs5n
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) February 19, 2024
So election expert Professor John Curtice reckons, “None of [the party leaders] enthuse the electorate, none of them are popular, all of them are regarded as dull as dishwater… So what’s the point of turning out to vote? If we give people a reason to vote, they’ll turn out.”
But people don’t have a reason to vote.
And Ruth Wodak said: “If there is a good opposition, if there’s an alternative programme, you might have a chance [to defeat far-right populism]… One has to provide alternatives, provide more participation so that citizens feel that they are acknowledged and that their worries are being taken seriously.”
There isn’t a good opposition. There isn’t an alternative programme. Keir Starmer has removed all his alternatives and cut back on participation – because, at heart, he is a Conservative cuckoo in the Labour nest.
Oh, he keeps pretending to offer more participation – here’s his current pledge:
NEW: Labour will introduce citizens' assemblies to decide contentious issues, such as Lords reform and housebuilding
Sue Gray has told @TomBaldwin66 of the “transformational” success of bodies in Ireland that built consensus for constitutional changehttps://t.co/i7INMBsFu6
— Josh Self (@Josh_Self_) February 19, 2024
But you can be sure it will be withdrawn long before anybody expects it to be put into practice, just like all Labour’s other pledges under Starmer’s leadership.
The UK needs alternatives – and we won’t get them from Labour or any of the other mainstream parties.
That’s why I am advising everyone to actually find out what the candidates in your constituency are planning to do, if they are lucky enough to be elected.
That is what party manifestos are for. Independent candidates also have policy documents and they will all be online for you to find and read.
You need to find and read these policy documents, and then you need to make a dispassionate choice, based on what you have read.
Which of the candidates offers the most policies that fit what you need? And, by that, I mean: who will improve your own life the most?
Do not consider how other people will vote, either in your constituency or the other 649 around the UK. That is not your concern.
It is not for you to worry about which party will get enough votes to actually enact its policies. This will lead you down the usual garden path to voting in a government that won’t do anything at all for the good of the country, like the one we’ve had since 2010.
BE SELFISH. Bizarrely, it might be the only way to get the kind of government that all of us need.
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Starmer and Reeves talk Labour but sing Tory songs from the IEA songbook
Do you remember back in 2001, after the GE that year, William Hague gave his closing speech as he stepped down as Tory leader, and warned that the shocking low turnout for the Election suggested vast numbers of people felt disengaged from politics? Low turnouts continued over the next few years.
https://thegreatcritique.wordpress.com/2020/11/19/in-2001-mps-asked-why-there-was-so-little-public-engagement-in-politics-irony-excerpt/
My suspicion is that what Hague was really complaining about was the general indifference to the narrow range of politics ‘New’ Labour and Baseball cap Tories wanted us all to focus on, but the broader point he made was valid.
In 2015, Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader and hundreds of thousands of people – especially the younger generation – suddenly became re-engaged, and the GE in 2017 had the biggest turnout in decades.
Now, just a few years on, it’s all vanished again. The reason it all fizzled out was because the political class itself rejected all this new blood, all these new ideas, all this enthusiasm, all this energy, and forced yet another clone-careerist politician into Corbyn’s place. The current mix of collective boredom and despair for the future among the public is the outcome.
At some point, politicians are going to have to face up to themselves, and accept that THEY are the reasons people become disillusioned and alienated. They heavily restrict the range of what people can choose from, evade all accountability, break promises, act out of authoritarianism, and leave a lot of people who worked and campaigned hard for something better wondering why they bothered.
Starmer is currently campaigning on, “The Tories are the worst party of Government ever, and we will do more of the same, but at least we won’t be as pleased about it, although we’ll expel you from the party if you disagree with anything I say, but you still MUST vote for us!” This is the ultimate progression of what Hague was complaining about in 2001. COMMANDING the public is not engaging the public, and DEMANDING public support rather than offering something substantial in return for public support, will never engage anyone.
In 23 years, the problem has just been allowed to get worse and worse, and yet politicians stubbornly refused to add 2 and 2 over what’s causing public alienation – politicians’ own ingrained contempt for democracy.
Martin- A very well written and Eloquent reply which I totally agree with.
Our current Government and Opposition are the Problem, not the Solution.
This is why I agree with Mike’s solution of reading the Manifesto’s of Independent Candidates and vote for the one that best represents your own views and aspirations.
People seem to have forgotten that this is what a Democracy is all about, rather than fall for the “Big Parties” propoganda about wasted votes.
Mes think it won’t b many voting and a landslide not much there
Starmer is a British traitor that serves the vile, apartheid, genocidal regime of Israel and its interests, over and above the interests of Britain and the British people! He and the rest in parliament, who are in the pockets of Israel, must be sacked, booted out of Parliament, and banned for life!
Seeking executive founders, please, to bring into existence new Infant to Over 50s political party, which has fully written by us, the people of all ages, and us the vital Grey Vote (top voters in elections), manifesto (book of policy pledges). Updating Corbyn’s manifestos and adding the omitted pension money and pensioner issue policies.
The political description of the party is Democratic Socialist Populist. In other words a Clement Attlee type of government is offered.
Unique policies around women’s and pensioner issues.
Please contact through website, to get the party swiftly registered and wipe Starmer’s Labour out at general election:
http://www.over50sparty.org.uk
No other unelected party is beating Labour in by-elections.