Only Reform can stop Labour’s leftward stampede

ALL EYES HAVE SHIFTED from the recent elections to the latest battle in Labour’s long-running war for the heart and soul of the party. Very quickly it has become a race to see who can take the party farthest to the left.

It is truly bizarre to observe prospective Labour leaders making themselves look even more out of touch with what the public wants than our prime minister has thus far managed. Bizarre, but not beyond them, and they are managing to do it.

Whether through speeches and statements by Wes Streeting or articles and interviews by Andy Burnham, there’s a stampede to see who can sound more idealistic than the grey, 50-shades-of-grey Keir Starmer.

What about introducing bigger tax hikes on the wealthy (natch!)? Who can get us back into the EU quickest (why, of course!)? Who can nationalise the most industries or utilities (it’s a wonder we have any left!)? There will be more to come, but they will all include the expansion of the state, inevitable higher taxes and still more borrowing once revenues collapse.

Economic growth will remain elusive, if not collapse altogether, and yet more bright minds and talented entrepreneurs will leave our shores for more welcoming climes.

The markets have responded by sending warnings that the bond market will break and borrowing costs will rocket.

Starmer tries to pass the blame to other countries and overseas leaders, but we know the root cause of our problems is made in Britain, emanating from Ten and Eleven Downing Street. Not the Ukraine war, not even the Iran war and certainly not Brexit. The expensive and avoidable Covid lockdowns are still being paid for, and the Rachel Reeves’ two budgets are burrowing their way through our private sector like porcine tapeworms.

Cost of living crisis? When it comes to price gouging it is our government that is the most at fault for we all know the largest components of so many costly items are high taxes.

Starmer’s just poor at politics, with little empathy for a country he resiles from

Petroleum, fuel oil, gas and electricity are stacked up with taxes, levies and duties. Booze – taxes and duties. Housing – property taxes, stamp duty and CGT. Food and food production – taxes and levies on retailers, hauliers, food manufacturers and farmers, not forgetting the employers’ national insurance and the rising minimum wage costs.

When it comes to oil we should be producing and refining our own – not worrying about the Strait of Hormuz. When it comes to importing food we should have no tariffs on food we don’t produce ourselves as we have no need to protect Italian rice farmers like the EU customs union forced us to do.

Starmer’s problem, I believe, is very simple, Machiavellian though he undoubtedly is, he’s just poor at politics, with little empathy for a country he resiles from. Starmer is clearly happiest overseas at summits and other supranational globalist get-togethers.

His poor public standing comes from being a soulless technocrat focused on retaining control of all he surveys rather than listening and delivering. He is poor at reading the public mood and ends up having to u-turn on policies nobody expected him to deliver and even fewer wanted. As the Mandelson episode and all the cabinet resignations show, his judgement stinks.

Starmer’s manifesto commitments were clearly printed with disappearing ink, causing him to duck, dive and deflect as he corrodes whatever trust voters might have had. Resigning in favour of Streeting or Burnham? I think it unlikely. Instead he will have to be dragged kicking and screaming from Downing Street. The best hope is sending the SAS in to extricate him, although with the way he has treated our veterans I wouldn’t be so sure what care they would take of him in the process.

The Prime Minister’s prized reset goes way beyond his carefully worded commitment to keep us out of the Single Market, Customs Union and freedom of movement by signing up to those concepts in all but name – and paying taxpayers’ money hand over fist for the privilege. And yet, the irony of ironies is that so many of Starmer’s initiatives to placate his backbenchers or win over public support rely on using powers that the many Brexit benefits have given his government.

either way the country will need an early general election

VAT on private schools to win over the left, the new trade deal with the Gulf states to claim he’s going for growth, the summer holiday hospitality cuts in VAT – even the banning of “far right” speakers arriving from EU member states – all of them, and more besides, are only possible because we left the EU.

No wonder then that Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham are ploughing the same furrow. Streeting wants to create a de facto wealth tax by putting extra charges on property – just when the number of Brits leaving the country has climbed to a quarter of a million.

Meanwhile Andy Burnham is all about creating warm vibes that are proving to be shallow and cynical as he quickly disowns policies he cannot deliver without hiking taxes and piling on even more debt. Burnham has reputedly been offered Ed Miliband’s support if he is made Chancellor in return. A truly apocalyptic thought.

So banal are their pronouncements it’s only a matter of time before one of them suggests we nationalise crime – to make sure it doesn’t pay. I suggest it won’t be long before some Labour supporters start feeling glassy-eyed and nostalgic for Sir Keir, calling for him to stay on and fight.

Streeting is in the race for two reasons, firstly to win before the window of opportunity closes, and secondly to gain a senior cabinet position if Burnham replaces Starmer. Burnham has already suggested he would appoint Streeting to his cabinet in a drive to unite a party the two of them had driven asunder.

With Streeting breaking cover, Burnham had to make his move or forever be the groom that couldn’t find his way to the church for his own wedding. A political marriage never consummated.

The voters of Makerfield now have a choice. Send a message to Labour that Starmer must go by voting Reform – and only Reform – because no other party will come close to beating Burnham. Or vote for Burnham and give Labour fresh hope it can stay in power for a generation by moving even further left.

Either way the country will need an early general election – because after a Reform victory Starmer’s reign will no longer be tenable and he will be replaced by Streeting or another candidate yet to emerge. Or because electing Burnham will result in him replacing Starmer but he will still need a mandate to pursue policies never put before voters in Labour’s manifesto

For me the greatest disruption will be caused by stopping BOTH Burnham and Starmer. That requires voting Reform to get reform. The 18th June will undoubtedly be a pivotal moment in this country’s democratic history.