Why this may be Keir Starmer's last Labour conference as leader
If the pressure building on Keir Starmer seems bad now, it’s only going to get worse next year
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There are times when writing a weekly newspaper column is rather like waiting at a bus stop. There are no issues in sight, and then a procession of them arrive all at once. Fortunately, because they all involve the Prime Minister, I can mention most of them today.
Last week Keir Starmer revealed he intended to introduce a digital Identity card, firstly for those who work, but inevitably for everyone. We know its sweeping totality because it will tie into healthcare for the NHS, the benefits system for the Department of Work and Pensions, and especially HMRC for income tax, VAT and other taxes.
Unfortunately for Starmer the record of government tech initiatives is very poor and previous identity schemes have cost a fortune and then been abandoned. It will not deliver security because criminals don’t use genuine ID cards and there are always black market jobs that don’t require them either.
The idea illegal migrants will stop coming because they won’t have a card is risible. They already come and receive a roof, food, payments without identities and will be processed to get an ID card. After all, Starmer’s plan to send them back or swap them one-in-one-out is hardly creating queues to leave.
The cheers of millions
Then there’s the question of policing the system. I don’t hear Starmer saying he’s going to recruit more police. Maybe he’ll have to take them off monitoring social media for hate crimes? And how the ID card will work in Northern Ireland is a puzzle Starmer has clearly not considered.
Over two million UK residents have already signed a parliamentary petition opposing it. The digital identity – where so much can go wrong and so much harm can be done by the government – would be an easy target for a new Labour leader to drop, to the cheers of millions.
READ MORE: Why I don’t want a BritCard, a Saltire App, or any more of the endless short-termism of politicians
Then there’s the EU reset – which is not proving to be as easy as Starmer thought. It is a fallacy to argue we even need it. I often read of people saying Brexit has failed or that Brexit has changed nothing (surely it can’t be both). The answer is that it has done far more for the good of Britain than most people realise and a new book was published yesterday listing 75 tangible benefits to prove that point.
Written by social media influencer Gully Foyle, it is methodical and evidence based – and not even exhaustive as there are more benefits he could have listed but he had to stop at some point to get it published – so expect “another 75 Brexit benefits” to be revealed in volume two.
The key point is that what Brexit has delivered is our sovereign ability to decide laws for ourselves – which is why the list is not exhaustive as further repeals of unhelpful EU laws will continue. The irony is there are many benefits listed that Labour could not have introduced without Brexit. For instance being able to charge VAT on private school fees is not something I would have wanted, while I could support the ability to abolish VAT on other items, like tampons.
A present for Remainers
Starmer’s EU reset is essentially unnecessary, but then it is only a cover for him trying to immerse us back into the EU without having a referendum. This angers many Labour voters who see Starmer selling the country short (like giving up £11 billion of fishing rights until 2038).
One day the country will be told it has to join, at double the cost of the £16bn we saved annually, and people will then realise the EU has become far worse than what we rejected in 2016. I’m buying the book in bulk as a Christmas present for recalcitrant Remainers.
Absurdly, Rachel Reeves has just said she’s going to abolish youth unemployment altogether. She also says she wants an ambitious EU youth work visa scheme for 50,000 EU youngsters a year that she predicts will add £5bn to the UK economy.
That works out at £100,000 of GDP generated per youth. That’s not going to happen by them working in care homes, hospitality or delivering pizzas – or studying as students. She has also forgotten to deduct the GDP that will leave the country from any Brits travelling to the EU.
The reality is that youth unemployment has risen since Labour came to power and an EU youth visa scheme will only worsen the situation for our young people. Starmer’s reset is not worth it.
Open season on Starmer
Unemployment is rising and job new opportunities are receding. Next year the unemployment crisis will become a far bigger issue for Starmer. After all, union dues won’t be paid when people are no longer working.
What Starmer really needs is a Labour party reset. He needs to accept many of the decisions he and his ministers have taken have only made the problems they face worse.
With such over-promising and inconsistencies across Labour’s governance of the country on immigration, identity cards, youth unemployment, benefit cuts and giving law-making back to Brussels, it’s no wonder that many Labour politicians are thinking how do they keep their seats, how do they hold their place in the next Cabinet and how do they protect their pensions.
Then there’s the May elections for English councils (against a high Labour tide from last time) as well as the Scottish and Welsh devolved elections. Polling tells us Labour could lose in Wales for the first time and Reform have now pushed Labour into third in Scotland.
After that it will be open season on Starmer as the pressure mounts on him to allow a new leader to be elected so he or she has a decent run-in before the general election. That’s a lot of dangerous issues all arriving at once. Methinks, eventually, Starmer will have to walk.
Brian Monteith is a former member of the Scottish and European parliaments and editor of ThinkScotland.org
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