Since July 5th when Labour made their shock landslide victory in the general election, the party’s days of leading the country have been filled with both promise and uncertainty. As of the day of writing, it has been 93 days of a Labour-led Britain with many eventful acts having transpired in such a relatively short period of time. Of the most notable were the collapse of the Rwanda deportation scheme, retraction of ICC arrest warrants of Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Southport stabbing riots, suspension of arms sales to Israel, household support fund extended, announcement of intended 10-year plan to rescue NHS that’s ‘cracking at the seams’, and the early release of thousands of prisoners.
Keir Starmer and his Labour Party have gone back on the extreme policy proposed by the previous Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak, the Rwanda deportation scheme as well as the position of the government on the ICC warrants of Israeli leaders alongside the sales of arms to Israel. One of the first issues addressed by the new Prime Minister was the Rwanda act which had been so strongly pushed for by the Conservatives: Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman. In his first press conference he stated that the Rwanda scheme was ‘dead and buried’ and that it was a ‘gimmick that did not act as a deterrent’. The government is yet to propose a suitable alternative to combat human traffickers.
Following on, many protests have been held through the course of the year relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict and due to pressure from thousands in the general public, Labour backtracked on the Conservative’s criticism of the ICC arrest warrants issued for Israel’s prime minister and with the Defence Minister later going on to even suspend 30/350 of its arms export licences on the 3rd of September.
A large and unacknowledged problem in the UK predating Keir Starmer’s rise to PM was the underlying racist views of a portion of the public, which was unleashed after the horrific Southport stabbings where 3 girls were murdered, and 10 others were left injured. This tragic incident occurred on the 29th of July within Labour’s first month in charge and was their first test of a nationwide catastrophe. Following a mass and rapid spread of misinformation online stating the perpetrator of the attack on the innocent victims, at a Taylor Swift themed event was a Muslim immigrant, outrage sparked, and many took to the streets to attack mosques and Muslims or any immigrants they would spot on their chaotic paths. In response the government made the identity of the perpetrator public, he was a British born and raised individual of Rwandan origin with no clear intentions, the reason why the identity was concealed to begin with was to protect the at the time under-18 criminal but due to the misinformation and harm it caused it was then assessed that as he was soon to turn 18 anyway that they could release the person’s identity. Despite this riot raged on with some of the focus moving away from immigrants and Muslims and simply towards causing carnage however rioters were threatened by the government with hefty criminal punishments for attending and acting violent in these riots, some of which had counter-protestors acting as a line of defence for their communities. Since the start of these riots’ mosques have hired security guards to prevent any further extreme acts against the Muslim communities which attend mosques regularly. Numerous people have been arrested and charged for their violent conduct in these riots which some as young as twelve having to face court proceedings. Similarly government officials criticised far right groups for their role in encouraging rioters. Keir Starmer addressed this and visited the families of the victims in Southport and in his crisis meeting with police chiefs condemns the ‘far-right hatred’ which incited the misinformation and riots.
The most recent development under Labour’s government has been the advance release of thousands of inmates from prisons across the UK. This issue has been swept under the rug for many years by the Conservatives with the public not being aware of the extent of the problem in regard to prison standards and the overflowing number of inmates. It was addressed during Keir Starmer’s first press conference where he stated ‘there is no overnight solution to the problem we have got too many prisoners’, then going on to say that it is a ‘monumental failure of the last government’ illuding to the fact his government inherited many of the difficult and challenging atmosphere the Conservative government left, clouding many different sectors of Public service, “the lack of a suitable alternative” has left Labour no choice but to release them early as Starmer said ‘it is impossible to simply say we will stop the early release of prisoners, and you wouldn’t believe me if I did say it’. Following the recent release of these prisoners some have taken to the internet to state their disappointment with the system and quality of prisons inside and criticising the government for not providing the right support to set them on the right path and that they would be likely to reoffend. With 37 prisoners being freed mistakenly because of the early release scheme. This obviously has raised concerns with public safety, but officials have reassured the public with stating there are harsh parole conditions, and that public safety is paramount but that it cannot be considered a scheme without risk.
On a more individualistic note, since Keir Starmer has been sworn in as prime minister more light has been shed on his past. During his time as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) he amassed just shy of £250,000 in travel expenses. A significant amount of this total was traced to many worldwide flights to locations such as Washington, Hong Kong, and South Africa to name a few, these accounted for around £40,000. Upon the revelation of these spending habits at his role at CPS outrage sparked and critics coined him a “career freeloader.” According to figures obtained by Freedom of Information requests, they have uncovered that in the 5 years he spent as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) he once again grew close to £250,000 spent on travel all whilst being on a salary of £200,000 and pension benefits totalling £336,000. The most worrying piece of information is the reports stating that he has received the most gifts of any MP since 2019, some even surpassing £100,000. Similarly, light has been shed on Starmer’s financial connection with Lord Waheed Alli, who is currently being investigated by the House of Lord’s Commissioner for “registry of interests”. In response Starmer decided to return £6000 worth of gifts to Lord Alli for some strange reason. For a man who was so critical of his predecessors, Starmer certainly seems to be “lining his pockets”.
To conclude, the Labour government has endured a tough first three months in power. 3 months in which they have had to take mounting backlog from the last government and place it on their shoulders for now this backlog seems to be their main excuse for failure, but with public trust at what seems to be an all-time low from the years of Conservative promises and despite the questionable spending habits and the integrity of Starmer being called into question by other MPs it is difficult to state for certain the impact this will have upon his ability to run the country, as PM he has had to overlook many unprecedented events occurring such as the Southport stabbing race riots filled to the brim with misinformation and the rapidly disintegrating prison system. It is still too early to judge, however Starmer has made vows to save the NHS and to release a 10-year plan alongside the prospect of cutting energy bills and rebuilding infrastructure, homes and invest heavily in education something all left-leaning governments should do. The future is always promising, but pressure needs to be applied in the right places to ensure that this new government does not pursue the money-making ways of its predecessors and focuses on ensuring stability within Britain.