Clive Lewis sticking to his values shows Rachel Reeves has abandoned hers – and may be signs that the Labour Party is splitting.
His article in the Observer on February 2, 2025, suggests that Reeves’s approval of Heathrow Airport expansion is a betrayal of her promise to be the UK’s first ever green chancellor.
It also suggests that she is adopting the trickle-down economics that her boss Keir Starmer once said was a “pisstake”. He’s adopting it too, by the way.
“Why pledge to be clean and green,” writes Mr Lewis, “only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn’t signal confidence – it reeks of panic.”

Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
“Remember our pledge to rebuild trust in politics? Climate U-turns like this do the exact opposite. Indeed, they fuel the very climate scepticism the right peddles. After all, if we genuinely think the climate crisis is an existential threat, why undermine combatting it?”
And this is just the most visible element of the Reeves-Starmer U-turn, it seems: “The changes are stacking up. BlackRock’s influence is growing. Austerity and deregulation are back in fashion. Zero tolerance for benefit fraud is in; stricter taxation on non-doms is out. Post-2008 banking regulations are set to be dismantled, while the long-touted climate and nature bill is quietly sidelined.”
“The winners will be the same old symbols of financial capitalism’s excesses – property developers pushing high-rise luxury flats while social housing crumbles; financial institutions such as BlackRock dictating investment priorities that benefit the wealthiest; and corporations such as Amazon, notorious for union-busting and exploitative labour practices, reaping profits from deregulation.
“The losers? The very working-class communities that Labour has to champion, who will probably see little of the wealth generated while facing increased job insecurity from AI disruption, unaffordable housing due to continued speculative investment and environmental degradation from unbridled development.”
“Growth, when concentrated in the hands of the few, does not translate into security or prosperity for the many.”
Mr Lewis goes on to aim explicitly at Reeves who, he states, “once championed the foundation economy – lifelong learning, public services, local industries and wealth redistribution. Whatever happened to that vision? Instead of pinning hopes on trickle-down promises from Heathrow and hedge funds, Labour should be levelling up wealth, not just GDP statistics.
“That means “growth” that serves people, not just profit. Of course, investing in AI, the life sciences and renewable energy is critical, but so too is sustainable farming, rewilding and well-paid jobs in adult social care – an urgent necessity for an ageing society, yet perpetually sidelined.”
By pandering to the rich, he says, Starmer and Reeves are offering a vision of growth that won’t work for the vast majority of the UK’s population – leaving a space for “populist opponents” to fill.
He tactfully neglects to make clear underlying message of his article: that Reeves and Starmer have betrayed Labour Party principles in favour of hard-right-wing “trickle-down” economics that they know won’t bring anything to working class people.
To that, This Writer would add that it probably doesn’t matter to them if their policy failures open the way for right-wing populists to take over and lead the UK down an increasingly fascist path; they’ll have jumped into the boardrooms of companies they have helped – whichever is more profitable.
The evidence is right in front of us all but we don’t have any power to change the situation; we voted Starmer and Reeves into office and that was the end of our participation. How can we now stop them?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:


The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:


Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:


The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Clive Lewis sticking to his values shows Rachel Reeves has abandoned hers
Clive Lewis sticking to his values shows Rachel Reeves has abandoned hers – and may be signs that the Labour Party is splitting.
His article in the Observer on February 2, 2025, suggests that Reeves’s approval of Heathrow Airport expansion is a betrayal of her promise to be the UK’s first ever green chancellor.
It also suggests that she is adopting the trickle-down economics that her boss Keir Starmer once said was a “pisstake”. He’s adopting it too, by the way.
“Why pledge to be clean and green,” writes Mr Lewis, “only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn’t signal confidence – it reeks of panic.”
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
“Remember our pledge to rebuild trust in politics? Climate U-turns like this do the exact opposite. Indeed, they fuel the very climate scepticism the right peddles. After all, if we genuinely think the climate crisis is an existential threat, why undermine combatting it?”
And this is just the most visible element of the Reeves-Starmer U-turn, it seems: “The changes are stacking up. BlackRock’s influence is growing. Austerity and deregulation are back in fashion. Zero tolerance for benefit fraud is in; stricter taxation on non-doms is out. Post-2008 banking regulations are set to be dismantled, while the long-touted climate and nature bill is quietly sidelined.”
“The winners will be the same old symbols of financial capitalism’s excesses – property developers pushing high-rise luxury flats while social housing crumbles; financial institutions such as BlackRock dictating investment priorities that benefit the wealthiest; and corporations such as Amazon, notorious for union-busting and exploitative labour practices, reaping profits from deregulation.
“The losers? The very working-class communities that Labour has to champion, who will probably see little of the wealth generated while facing increased job insecurity from AI disruption, unaffordable housing due to continued speculative investment and environmental degradation from unbridled development.”
“Growth, when concentrated in the hands of the few, does not translate into security or prosperity for the many.”
Mr Lewis goes on to aim explicitly at Reeves who, he states, “once championed the foundation economy – lifelong learning, public services, local industries and wealth redistribution. Whatever happened to that vision? Instead of pinning hopes on trickle-down promises from Heathrow and hedge funds, Labour should be levelling up wealth, not just GDP statistics.
“That means “growth” that serves people, not just profit. Of course, investing in AI, the life sciences and renewable energy is critical, but so too is sustainable farming, rewilding and well-paid jobs in adult social care – an urgent necessity for an ageing society, yet perpetually sidelined.”
By pandering to the rich, he says, Starmer and Reeves are offering a vision of growth that won’t work for the vast majority of the UK’s population – leaving a space for “populist opponents” to fill.
He tactfully neglects to make clear underlying message of his article: that Reeves and Starmer have betrayed Labour Party principles in favour of hard-right-wing “trickle-down” economics that they know won’t bring anything to working class people.
To that, This Writer would add that it probably doesn’t matter to them if their policy failures open the way for right-wing populists to take over and lead the UK down an increasingly fascist path; they’ll have jumped into the boardrooms of companies they have helped – whichever is more profitable.
The evidence is right in front of us all but we don’t have any power to change the situation; we voted Starmer and Reeves into office and that was the end of our participation. How can we now stop them?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
you might also like
Workplace battleground: Labour and Tories at war over employment
A&E fears fall on deaf ears
‘Abolition of the Bedroom Tax’ Bill is launched in Parliament