Labour are No Different to the Tories
MAYA EVANS, formerly a Labour and then independent member of Hastings Borough Council, assesses Keir Starmer’s first 100 days in power and castigates the Labour government for taking freebies, voting to keep child poverty and letting pensioners freeze
Free Taylor Swift Tickets for Labour
Labour’s first 100 days in office has been dubbed ‘worst start in living memory’, with six out of ten Britons disapproving of the government’s record. Indeed, within a short space of time Labour has managed to cloak itself in sleaze, make it harder for pensioners to access winter fuel allowances, leave millions of children in poverty, and tell the long term sick to get back to work. The party now takes millions in donations from private business and billionaires, while removing desperately needed benefits from people who rely on them most. As ‘Austerity 2.0’ is now being rolled out by the government, I’m left wondering, are Labour any better than the Tories?
In the week Labour scrapped winter fuel allowances for most pensioners, senior Labour politicians including Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner have found themselves embroiled in ‘Gift Gate’, accepting luxury freebies for things like clothing, glasses, accommodation, gig tickets, as well as football and tennis matches. Labour cabinet members have reportedly received £250,000 in free gifts with Sir Keir reportedly pocketing £100,000 worth.
Lord Waheed Alli – ennobled by Tony Blair in 1998 as Baron Alli of Norbury – has been a major Labour donor. During this year’s general election campaign he donated £10,000 towards Liam Conlon’s successful campaign to win Beckenham & Penge. Conlon is the son of former Labour Chief of Staff Sue Gray. Following the election Alli was given the keys – or at least a free pass – to Downing Street – a move apparently sanctioned by Ms Gray.
Another example of Labour sleaze is the case of the party’s then shadow business secretary. According to the Open Democracy website, Jonathan Reynolds, his senior parliamentary assistant (who is his wife), and Keir Starmer’s political director all attended the Glastonbury festival in June 2023 as guests of YouTube, which is owned by Google. Reynolds estimates his Glastonbury package for two including accommodation and ‘hospitality’ was worth £3,377 – significantly more than the cost of two regular tickets, at £335 each. Until then, Labour was promising to increase the digital service tax from 2% to 10%, which would bring in billions from giants like Google and Facebook. Literally the day after the festival, it emerged that Reynolds had ditched the policy. Voters, not tech-firms, would have to accept austerity instead.
Two years ago Labour were heavily critical of the Tories during ‘Party Gate’ and ‘VIP Covid Contracts’, and promised to take the sleaze out of politics. Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting defended the recent gifts, likening them to a “charitable donation which was saving the taxpayer”. From what, exactly? Having to buy Labour Politicians Taylor Swift tickets?
I would argue Labour are no different to the Tories. A recent YouGov poll suggested most Britons thought the Labour government was ‘sleazy’, while an Opinium poll reveals that Starmer’s approval rating has plunged below that of the Tory leader Rishi Sunak, with a huge 45-point drop since July. After the government’s first 100 days, YouGov found half of Labour’s own voters were disappointed by Starmer’s government, with four in ten Britons feeling the country is in a worse state than before the election. Perhaps most alarmingly for the government, nearly half (47%) of those who voted Labour in the election say they had positive expectations of Starmer’s government but feel let down so far, with only three in ten (30%) feeling Labour has done as well as they had hoped.
‘Gift Gate’ came in the same week as Labour’s egregious decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment for most pensioners, a policy which suggests Labour would prefer to make accessing heating for poor pensioners a near impossible online task instead of a few pensioners who don’t need the allowance receiving it. Last week Starmer floated his proposition that those who have been long term sick need to get back to work!
Meanwhile, here in Hastings, Labour members on the council have voted to keep the two-child benefit cap, despite figures from the Department of Work and Pensions showing that a quarter of all children in the borough were living in relative poverty. In fact all seven Hastings Labour Councillors and the MP have voted to continue with ‘austerity 2.0’ leaving the children of this town in poverty. This leaves Hastings residents with the obvious question, if the Labour Party continues with its pre-election plan to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP “when funds become available”, why can’t they also pledge to lift the two child cap “when funds become available”?
In May 2024 Labour received its biggest ever donation – £4m – from Quadrature Capital, a Cayman Island hedge funder who have shares in fossil fuels and the arms industry. The donation was made just after the general election was called but has only just been declared.
Labour politicians locally and nationally appear to have sold out and are clearly showing they are looking to run the country through public and private partnerships, meaning public infrastructure will be used to support private business. Sadly,Labour’s 100 days of talking down the country, having no real or convincing fiscal plan (other than blaming the Tories) has had the opposite of the desired effect to energise the British market and economy. Instead foreign investors are sceptical about investing and more likely to drive harder deals and worse terms and conditions for workers.
Labour now receives more in private business donations than trade union donors, receiving approximately £13m since 2022, while the three biggest union affiliates in the same period donated less than that, around £12m. Donations are obviously a clear reflection of policy priority and who has the ear of elected representatives.
Within less than 100 days in Government, Labour have shown they are no different to the Tories, preferring to punch down at the poor, rather than punch up at the billionaires. Instead, they have cosied up to the rich with freebies and donations, clear evidence of who Labour now listens to and, moreover, who they now represent and whose interests they prioritise.
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