Cracks beginning to show for Starmer’s Labour

Keir Starmer’s New Labour government has only reached its eighth month in office but the cracks are beginning to show around numerous issues, including oil field licensing, foreign policy, and Starmer’s increasingly strident anti-migrant rhetoric. The latest ‘nuanced’ differences have been over the Employment Rights Bill, with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner wanting the promised workers’ reforms to be ‘ringfenced’, measly and inadequate as they are. At the same time, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds reportedly wants to ‘give companies time to get ready’ for them.

At last September’s TUC (Trades Union Congress), Starmer called on the trade union leaders to accept ‘partnership’ between unions and bosses. But the Socialist Party warned: “Starmer is clear: he accepts the limitations of the sick state of British capitalism, including Tory spending plans, and is trying to neuter the workers’ movement by advocating partnership between unions and rabid big-business bosses.”

There can be no common interest between workers and their unions with the bosses. Or rather, any partnership will be in the interests of the employers, particularly during this period of capitalist economic crisis.

Creaking British capitalism

If anything, the sickness of British capitalism has become even clearer over the last few months, as economic growth continues to creak along at stagnation levels or worse. This is the root of the pressures that are mounting from every angle on Starmer.

The inherent weakness of British capitalism has been further revealed by the response to Trump’s volley of announcements. As the capitalists’ faithful helmsman, Starmer is attempting to balance between the competing powers of the US, China and the EU, at this stage trying to manoeuvre the UK into a favourable position with the US, explaining his fawning behaviour with Trump.

At both home and abroad, Starmer and his government faithfully represent the interests of big business. The capitalist class hopes that this New Labour government will be more effective than the Tories in implementing a new round of austerity, helped by trade union leaders arguing that it represents their members’ interests. The most farsighted capitalists see the Employment Rights Bill as a necessary concession in order to try and maintain this fiction. Yet still, Reynolds looks to water down the Bill under pressure from some employers. He has done nothing to stop the closures of the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot last year, and now the Stellantis van plant in Luton. Both should be nationalised to save jobs and working-class communities.

Fiscal straitjacket

Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves had already committed themselves to adhering to Tory spending limits when entering Downing Street. As economic ill-winds strengthen, the official ‘Office for Budget Responsibility’ forecast and accompanying spring statement scheduled for 26 March will set out a so-called spending envelope. And the accompanying cuts announced in the spending review in the summer.

Budget pressures are increasing throughout the public sector on the back of 14 years of brutal Tory austerity – from the NHS, councils and now a growing funding crisis in higher education, which college workers and students are fighting.

Also, straight after the election, Starmer looked to end the public sector pay disputes that workers fought against the Tories. Labour tabled offers of around 5 to 5.5% – slightly over the more real RPI inflation rate but nowhere near recovering what has been lost since 2010. With the connivance of most of the union leaders, the majority of disputes were settled. But as we said at the time, this would be as good as it would get. The offers for the new pay year are only based around 2.8%.

Reeves made it clear that last year’s pay offers were governed by New Labour’s concerns about workers’ struggle, particularly the strike wave of the last few years, the biggest, sustained level of strike action for over three decades. And a militant industrial strategy across the unions is needed now to confront Starmer’s New Labour austerity offensive. But this will require a struggle in the unions against those leaders who want to cover for Labour, including signing up to their ‘partnership’ agenda. This requires the building of broad lefts in the unions, and voting for fighting candidates in key union elections over the next few months.

Danger of political vacuum

But this struggle in the unions can’t be limited to just the industrial plane, as essential as that is. Starmer’s New Labour has opened up a political vacuum as working-class people are repelled by his pro-business policies.

Nigel Farage and his right-wing populist Reform UK are moving to exploit this mood. Starmer’s response is to steer his New Labour further to the right, shamefully wearing Reform’s clothes by proclaiming to be tough on migrants, and outrageously agreeing with new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over attacking a judge’s decision to use the Ukraine sanctuary scheme to allow a Palestinian family of six to flee the Israeli assault on Gaza.

But we don’t share the fatalistic pessimism of many of those on the left, who have already drawn the conclusion that there is an inexorable slide towards racist reaction, without workers’ struggle. The strike wave showed that workers are prepared to fight on the picket lines.

And during that upsurge in strikes, union leaders like Mick Lynch, RMT, and Dave Ward, CWU, who were heading key national disputes, launched ‘Enough is Enough’, which attracted over half a million supporters and big rallies around the country, showing the potential for a trade union-based party on a pro-worker political programme.

That opportunity was deliberately not taken. But such a party now would be increasingly attractive to all those repelled by Starmer, as an alternative to Farage’s Reform. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour won up to a million votes from UKIP in the 2017 general election, and won over 3 million more votes than Starmer last July.

Four of the ‘suspended seven’ Labour MPs who had the whip withdrawn for voting against the two-child benefit cap have been readmitted over six months later. Three remain suspended. What others will be compelled to vote against further austerity measures coming down the tracks and face Starmer’s punishment?

Corbyn, the independent MPs and the three suspended Labour MPs could play an important role now, by giving workers’ struggles a voice in Parliament. This would give a hint of what is possible in terms of workers’ much-needed political representation.

The struggle in the workers’ movement for a militant industrial struggle along with a political voice are essential tasks in the stormy period that is under way.

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