Ahead of Upcoming Elections: This Is How UK’s Labour Moves to Gain Local and International Approval

Months before general elections in the United Kingdom, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer began moving to gain support, whether on the local or international scene, by presenting his agenda at major events to draw a map detailing his positions on various issues if he wins power.

Starmer — wh o has been criticized for not presenting a clear policy program — embarked on an international tour, visiting key UK allies with the aim of boosting his image and laying some foundations for what appears to be his inevitable career towards Downing Street.

With the Labour, which represents the center-left, topping opinion polls by 14 points over the ruling Tories, according to a recent opinion poll conducted by the company Opinium, and with a general election likely to be held in 2024 or 2025, both Starmer and UK’s allies are preparing to seize power from the Conservatives for the first time in 14 years.

The UK’s Labour has not formed any government since Gordon Brown’s government (2007 to 2010), while all governments since that time until now have come from the Conservative Party.

In a related matter, the Labour leader recently began revealing his plan for power if the party wins the next general elections, as he pledged to pursue a major rewrite of the Brexit agreement with the European Union, citing his responsibility to his children and future generations.

It is noteworthy that the UK’s general elections are rarely decided based on international affairs rather than domestic affairs, and therefore, the Labour is likely to set its sights on the task of fixing internal problems rather than changing foreign policy.

The Tories will bequeath to Labour a long list of problems to address after more than a decade in power. The British economy is the worst performing in the Group of Seven, and there is a cost-of-living crisis that is pressuring wages, raising prices, and sparking widespread industrial protests.

 

Foreign Policies

About three weeks before the annual Labour conference, its leader began courting European countries that were not very friendly to the Conservative government since the British vote on Brexit, in a move that seems like a gamble to increase his popularity and feel the pulse of public opinion, in order to emerge from the conference with the various wings of the party agreeing on the program for the general elections that must be held before the beginning of 2025.

On September 15, Keir Starmer and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper went to the EU to discuss the issue of illegal immigration, with the aim of embarrassing the Conservative government, given its failure to stop the flow of thousands of illegal immigrants across the English Channel over the past period.

After speaking in The Hague with officials from the EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, the Labour leader revealed his new plans for asylum seekers in the United Kingdom that he will implement if his party wins power.

These plans sparked widespread controversy and led to a dispute with the Conservative Party, which accused Starmer of intending to receive about 100,000 new arrivals.

Starmer responded to the Conservative Party’s attack on his plan, saying: “That scheme itself isn’t really working very well. So the idea that we’re going to join the EU scheme on quotas is complete nonsense,” stressing that “We [the UK] are not an EU member.”

It is noteworthy that the process of formulating immigration policy in the UK appears to be a major obstacle facing Labour, as they must find the appropriate balance between receiving immigrants, preserving the country’s sovereignty, and complying with international laws and agreements.

During a summit of progressive politicians hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Keir Starmer identified the axis of instability facing the West in the world today, which revolves around the four threats of people smuggling, terrorism, climate change, and weakening democracy.

After Montreal, the Labour leader, who was accompanied by Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, and David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, headed to Paris and held bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on September 19, which represents the last stop on his diplomatic tour during which he sought to build good international relations.

On its part, The Guardian newspaper said that “Starmer sought, through his meeting with Macron, to begin paving the way for a possible renegotiation of the trade agreement between the UK and the EU in 2025.”

The British newspaper explained in its analysis that “the Labour hopes to exploit the trip to position Starmer as a leader on the international stage, as well as to test the desire to reach a broader trade arrangement in the event of their possible return to Downing Street.”

“Almost everyone recognizes the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal — it’s too thin. As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK,” Starmer told the Financial Times.

In contrast, many in UK and EU foreign policy circles have warned that if Labour wins the election, it is unlikely to find a receptive audience in European capitals for a renegotiation unless the party is willing to make significant concessions.

Critics say that even if the UK reached an agreement with the EU in some areas, it would not strengthen the British economy in any way, given the Labour’s commitment to remaining outside the EU’s single market and customs union.

This was confirmed by British Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, stressing that the Labour government will not attempt to return the UK to the EU’s single market or customs union, adding that “the Labour will rebuild the smoldering ashes of the bridges that the Conservatives burned in relations with other countries.”

Credit: Al Majalla; Matt Holland

 

Local Program

The by-elections that took place last July revealed the obstacles standing in the way of the Labour opposition, which dreams of entering Downing Street in 2024 but is suffering from the effects of its anti-pollution policy in London.

An incoming Labour government would have a lot to learn from Tony Blair’s era in Westminster, but it cannot simply espouse the party’s 1990’s political program, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

Labour has faced criticism from both left and right since Keir Starmer became leader because of the similarity of his cautious centrist approach to the one followed by Blair in the run-up to his 1997 landslide general election victory, according to the Financial Times.

“Its platform for the forthcoming general election will have to differ from the New Labour era because it faces challenges of a different nature,” Reeves said.

She also reiterated the party’s longstanding position that it would not seek to rejoin the EU but would aim to improve relationships with the 27-nation bloc.

The Labour leader previously pledged that his party would avoid large increases in government spending to ensure the stability of the United Kingdom’s economy, which shrank during the recent period less than expected despite the impact of repeated strikes.

In an article published by The Guardian last July, Starmer pledged to avoid large increases in unfunded spending if elected next year.

Starmer stressed the need for the priority to be economic stability to change the current situation, pointing out that this would mean making difficult choices and having strict financial rules.

Last May, a preliminary draft, leaked to the British media, containing the policies that will form the Labour’s next election manifesto, revealed the party’s likely direction if it comes to power.

The leak, published by the LabourList website, included a commitment to increasing taxes on private schools and transferring the railway sector to public ownership, in addition to abolishing anti-trade union legislation and abolishing the tax status of non-resident persons.

The draft detailed how the Labour would transform the British economy into a green economy through a government investment fund that would support the establishment of huge new factories to manufacture batteries for electric cars.