Back in 2013, after the Eastleigh by-election, I offered Labour a clear path to the hearts and mind of voters, published on This Site. History has shown that Keir Starmer’s Labour couldn’t take the right road with a map.
It wasn’t complicated. The advice boiled down to a few simple, necessary steps:
-
Reform the UK’s relationship with Europe — seek sovereignty and reform, not isolation.
-
Reform social security — put claimants’ needs first and end the deaths caused by austerity.
-
Defend the NHS — stop privatisation and prioritise public health.
-
Invest in the economy — borrow to rebuild, grow prosperity, and reject austerity.
- Be honest with the electorate — keep promises, rebuild trust.
Labour could have listened.
Instead, it turned away.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £2 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Under Ed Miliband, there was hesitation and missed opportunities. Under Jeremy Corbyn, there was at least an attempt to move in the right direction — too little, too late.
But it is under Keir Starmer that Labour has thrown the map away entirely.
On Europe, the party now insists that Brexit is “settled.”
Starmer’s Labour won’t even discuss rejoining the Single Market, let alone the European Union. Where once Labour could have led a mature, honest conversation about Britain’s place in the world, it now clings to the myth that Brexit can somehow be “made to work.”
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
On social security, Labour now proposes changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) that will make life harder for disabled people — not easier.
Instead of ending the persecution of claimants that has cost lives, Starmer’s Labour seems determined to continue it under a new brand.
On the NHS, Labour’s Health Secretar, Wes Streeting, openly embraces private sector involvement — while taking donations from private healthcare firms himself. The NHS isn’t being saved. It’s being sold.
On the economy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has chained Labour to two “fiscal rules” that forbid borrowing for day-to-day investment.
She promises a return to “fiscal discipline” — a Tory slogan if ever there was one — even while Britain’s public services crumble. Instead of borrowing to invest and grow, Labour plans to manage decline more politely than the Tories.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
But it is Starmer’s dishonesty that is the most glaring betrayal.
Starmer won the Labour leadership on the back of ten pledges that mirrored much of the 2013 advice: higher wages, free education, public ownership. He has broken almost all of them — quietly dropping each promise, one by one, until barely a trace remains. He has not been honest with Labour members, nor with the public.
Labour’s leaders were told, plainly, how to win — and how to govern with integrity.
I told them.
They did not listen.
Today, the Labour Party has taken power – on a platform so cautious, so compromised, that it threatens to change very little.
Victory came by default, because the Conservatives collapsed.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £2 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
But real change? The kind the country needs?
Not with this Labour Party.
There is still time for them to remember the lessons of that long-ago by-election 2013. Even before the next by-election – in Runcorn and Helsby – and the local elections on the same day, Labour could change course.
But the clock is ticking, and the road ministers chose has led them far, far away.
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Cruel Britannia is available
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The Livingstone Presumption is available
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The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Starmer’s Labour couldn’t take the right road with a map
Back in 2013, after the Eastleigh by-election, I offered Labour a clear path to the hearts and mind of voters, published on This Site. History has shown that Keir Starmer’s Labour couldn’t take the right road with a map.
It wasn’t complicated. The advice boiled down to a few simple, necessary steps:
Reform the UK’s relationship with Europe — seek sovereignty and reform, not isolation.
Reform social security — put claimants’ needs first and end the deaths caused by austerity.
Defend the NHS — stop privatisation and prioritise public health.
Invest in the economy — borrow to rebuild, grow prosperity, and reject austerity.
Labour could have listened.
Instead, it turned away.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £2 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Under Ed Miliband, there was hesitation and missed opportunities. Under Jeremy Corbyn, there was at least an attempt to move in the right direction — too little, too late.
But it is under Keir Starmer that Labour has thrown the map away entirely.
On Europe, the party now insists that Brexit is “settled.”
Starmer’s Labour won’t even discuss rejoining the Single Market, let alone the European Union. Where once Labour could have led a mature, honest conversation about Britain’s place in the world, it now clings to the myth that Brexit can somehow be “made to work.”
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
On social security, Labour now proposes changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) that will make life harder for disabled people — not easier.
Instead of ending the persecution of claimants that has cost lives, Starmer’s Labour seems determined to continue it under a new brand.
On the NHS, Labour’s Health Secretar, Wes Streeting, openly embraces private sector involvement — while taking donations from private healthcare firms himself. The NHS isn’t being saved. It’s being sold.
On the economy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has chained Labour to two “fiscal rules” that forbid borrowing for day-to-day investment.
She promises a return to “fiscal discipline” — a Tory slogan if ever there was one — even while Britain’s public services crumble. Instead of borrowing to invest and grow, Labour plans to manage decline more politely than the Tories.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
But it is Starmer’s dishonesty that is the most glaring betrayal.
Starmer won the Labour leadership on the back of ten pledges that mirrored much of the 2013 advice: higher wages, free education, public ownership. He has broken almost all of them — quietly dropping each promise, one by one, until barely a trace remains. He has not been honest with Labour members, nor with the public.
Labour’s leaders were told, plainly, how to win — and how to govern with integrity.
I told them.
They did not listen.
Today, the Labour Party has taken power – on a platform so cautious, so compromised, that it threatens to change very little.
Victory came by default, because the Conservatives collapsed.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £2 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
But real change? The kind the country needs?
Not with this Labour Party.
There is still time for them to remember the lessons of that long-ago by-election 2013. Even before the next by-election – in Runcorn and Helsby – and the local elections on the same day, Labour could change course.
But the clock is ticking, and the road ministers chose has led them far, far away.
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:
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