Six months after Labour’s “loveless landslide” the Government is facing a host of policy challenges, from planning reform and a farmers’ revolt to inheritance tax changes, to an uncertain foreign policy environment following the election of Donald Trump in the US. Here we revisit nine of our post-election articles on the policy and electoral challenges Labour is facing while in Government.
Labour’s “loveless landslide” is stronger than it looks
Labour’s “loveless landslide”, securing a two thirds majority of seats from just 34 per cent of the votes, differs significantly from the Thatcher/Blair landslides, achieved with far greater support. Yet Patrick Dunleavy shows that beneath the national picture of a multi-party system that is set in concrete now, 70 per cent of Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs enjoy over two fifths support in their constituency. Displacing them will be a pretty hard task for the Conservatives or Reform in England’s resurgent multi-party system.
Reeves’ talk of “black holes” leads to bad policies
Rachel Reeves announced the discovery of a “black hole” in the public finances, and blamed the previous Government for concealing it. Jo Michell argues that the use of such metaphors to describe public finances is misleading and leads to damaging and inaccurate narratives about the economy, which in turn produce bad policies.
Only the super rich need fear the farmers’ inheritance tax
Protesters and high-profile individuals like James Dyson argued that ending the inheritance tax exemption for farmers will spell the end of the family farmer. Paul Cheshire argues that’s not the case, and that the introduction of the tax exemption in the first place has made farm-land unavoidably expensive for farmers, and a refuge for those seeking tax avoidance.
Labour lacks a strategy to cut poverty and inequality
There is a spectre haunting the Labour Government, the spectre of poverty. Despite signalling a change of economic direction, the issues of poverty and inequality remain largely off the list of priorities of Keir Starmer’s and Rachel Reeves’ agenda. The announcement of a Child Poverty Taskforce might be a sign of policies to come, but Stewart Lansley argues, social science has a pretty good understanding of poverty and its link to wealth inequality. If the Labour Government is serious about tackling poverty, it needs to focus on reducing inequality.
Labour’s planning reforms – how to make housing targets work
Labour promised serious reforms to the planning system while in opposition. What it has proposed now that it’s in Government, including reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, is very far from a fundamental reform. In the first of two parts on Labour’s planning reforms, Paul Cheshire argues that given how broken the UK’s planning system is, nothing short of radical reform can fix it. However, he does acknowledge some positive steps made towards housing targets.
Will Labour secure workers’ rights for the 21st century?
How Rachel Reeves should have changed the fiscal rules
Trump’s election will reinforce Labour’s turn to Europe
The victory of Donald Trump in the US election is likely to challenge the West’s relatively united strategy towards Russia’s war on Ukraine. But at the same time, it will bring the UK and EU closer together on security matters, argues Benjamin Martill.
Where are Labour’s next electoral battlegrounds?
Keir Starmer’s recent “Plan for Change” speech signals Labour’s nervousness about securing a second term. Lawrence McKay argues that the electoral challenge Labour faces is the mirror image of that faced by Boris Johnson after 2019, having to win-over voters in middle-class, suburban and rural seats rather than in the “Red-Wall”.
All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of LSE British Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Image credit: Michael Tubi in Shutterstock
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