A hiring hiatus means Labour’s ‘living standards’ mission is failing – doesn’t it?

Labour’s flagship promise going into government was clear: improve living standards – not just for a chosen few, but for everyone.

Now, less than a year into their term, the warning lights are flashing red—and the British people are already turning away.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows job vacancies have plummeted to their lowest level in nearly four years with only 781,000 positions on offer in the first three months of the year.

At the same time, payroll numbers dropped by 78,000 in March—and were quietly revised down for February, too.

This isn’t just statistical noise—it’s a sign of deepening economic stagnation.

Businesses, faced with rising employment costs thanks to increased National Insurance and a higher minimum wage, are choosing the simplest option available: stop hiring.

As one analyst put it, “pausing hiring is the simplest lever for businesses to pull” – and it is being pulled, hard.

Labour claims rising wages are proof of progress – but that means very little when fewer people are in work, costs are spiralling, and public support is draining away.

The latest opinion poll (from FindoutnowUK on April 12) puts Labour on 22 per cent, trailing behind Reform UK—yes, Reform—on 26 per cent, and barely scraping ahead of the Tories on 21 per cent. The Lib Dems and Greens, often dismissed as minor players, are sitting at 14 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. That should set off alarm bells in Keir Starmer’s office.

The public didn’t vote Labour in to shuffle the same deck of austerity cards – but that’s exactly what we’re seeing:

• £5 billion in cuts to disability benefits.
• A refusal to lift the cruel two-child benefit cap.
• Slashing Winter Fuel Payments from pensioners.
• Who knows what will be next?

These aren’t the actions of a government “for the many”—they’re the politics of decline.

And Labour’s excuse? “Fiscal rules.”

Rachel Reeves’s rigid budget policies are being exposed for what they are: ideology disguised as responsibility.

And ideology doesn’t feed families, keep the heating on, or offer someone a job.

Labour told us it would raise living standards.

But if job prospects are shrinking, poverty is rising, and even Reform UK is outpolling it, then it’s time to admit the truth.

This isn’t just a government in trouble—it’s a government that has already failed its core mission.

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