The Current State of British Politics.

In the context of the ongoing climate catastrophe and biodiversity crisis, the current state of British politics is no more than a trivial sideshow, but I propose to devote a little time to it now.

We appear to be faced with the prospect of a Labour Government in the near-future, one with a landslide majority in the House of Commons, given the state of the opinion polls. The Conservatives are about as popular as the Black Death, and unlikely to improve their popularity by very much in the time between now and the General Election, which cannot be delayed beyond January 2025.

The voters are in no mood to give the official Opposition much in the way of scrutiny, which is a pity, because if they did, they would find it somewhat disappointing, to say the least.

Labour pledged to end university tuition fees; then changed its mind. It pledged to end the two-child benefit cap, then broke that promise, saying it would keep it. They told us they'd increase income tax for the top 5% of earners - then decided they wouldn't. The policy of re-nationalising any of the public utilities has also been dropped, with only rail now included - and the Tories have been forced to make a start on that, in any event, in order to keep rail services going.

Sir Keir Starmer told Labour Party members, when running for the leadership of the Party, that he would defend freedom of movement; subsequently, freedom of movement became anathema, something he regarded as 'gone for good'.

Labour also dropped their plan to bring in a £28 billion 'Green New Deal' from day one of their term of office, saying they were now only able to start increasing spending on the 'green economy' from mid-term. Furthermore, having pledged to block all new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, they agreed to allow drilling in the Cambo and Rosebank fields to go ahead. See: The Big Issue, 18th July 2023.

Subsequently, and following its by-election defeat at Uxbridge, Labour has dropped its plan to extend ULEZ-style clean air zones across the country, showing that it doesn't care about air pollution, clean air, the environment, public health or people getting sick and dying of respiratory diseases: see The Independent, 13th August 2023.

Starmer later wrote in The Times newspaper that he would not revoke the 100 new oil and gas drilling licences for the North Sea issued by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and he described the policy of Just Stop Oil as 'contemptible', although he was perfectly happy to accept a £1.5 million donation to Labour from the group's financial backer, Dale Vince, while also stating his desire to see climate activists, like those of Just Stop Oil, locked up in jail for years (Independent, 6th August 2023; Guardian, 24th October 2022).

Most recent of all has been a reneging on a pledge regarding workers' rights in the so-called 'gig' economy, see The Independent, 18th August 2023.

Labour now boasts of being 'pro-business', but also claims to be 'pro-worker'. It can't be both! It is like a man trying to ride two horses at once - the end-result is unlikely to be very pretty. Jesus of Nazareth told us 'You cannot serve both God and money.' Sir Keir Starmer and his Shadow Ministers obviously never learned that particular lesson in Sunday School, if they ever attended one.

The majority of the voters now think Brexit was a mistake, but neither the Tories nor Labour are willing to give them the opportunity to reverse it, or even to restore the freedom of movement Starmer pledged to defend, and return Britain to the Single Market they are happy for Northern Ireland to remain in. Yet 63% of those who say they intend to vote Labour say they believe there should be another Referendum on EU membership for the UK in 5 years, and that increases to 69% for an EU Referendum in 10 years. If such a vote were held, 50% of all voters say they would vote in favour of re-joining, with only 30% saying they'd vote to stay out, and 20% either not knowing what they'd do, or not saying (YouGov). The Guardian reported on the 23rd June 2023 a YouGov poll saying 58.2% of people in Britain would now vote to re-join.

61% of Labour voters, and 83% of Labour members, favour a change in the electoral system to proportional representation (Electoral Reform Society; Labour List). However, Starmer and the Labour frontbench remain adamantly opposed.

Starmer is an anti-democratic and profoundly authoritarian individual, who refuses to listen to, or take any notice of, the views of those with whom he disagrees. He has expelled Jewish members of the Labour Party for alleged 'antisemitism', when it is completely impossible, by definition, for any Jew to be antisemitic, unless you define antisemitism to include anti-Zionism. See: Middle East Monitor, 23rd December 2022. The Labour Party has adopted the definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), as MEM points out. One of the points in that definition includes 'Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.' So it doesn't matter what the Netanyahu government does, or how heinously it behaves - under no circumstances must its actions be compared to those of the Nazis, or whoever is doing the comparing is being antisemitic!

Labour has adopted Conservative policies on social security, immigration, 'law and order' and trans rights (on this last, see BBC, 25th July 2023). A staunch Labour supporter, Dr Frances Ryan, a disabled person, has complained, rightly, in the pages of the Guardian (20th April 2023) about their policy on disability benefits.

Things, however, are likely to be far worse under Labour, given what the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who likes to boast that she is a former Bank of England economist, proposes to do if she becomes the tenant of Number 11, Downing Street. Her so-called 'fiscal rules' imply yet more austerity, with tight controls on public spending and borrowing, and no increases in taxes on the wealthy or big business. Labour is 'the Party of business', after all! Grace Blakeley, writing in Tribune on the 10th July 2023, has it almost exactly right: 'Labour may well win the next election simply by convincing the British establishment that the country is safe in their hands. But they won't be able to solve any of the crises the country is currently facing while abiding by their fiscal rules - they might even make things worse.' No, Grace Blakeley, not 'might' - Labour will make things worse - a lot worse!

This country needs Rachel Reeves' fiscal conservatism like it needs a proverbial hole in the head. With Labour keeping the Tories' hard Brexit, her boast of achieving economic growth to put the UK at the top of the G7 growth league is absolute and utter tripe, and a lie to make one of Boris Johnson's fibs look like a minor peccadillo.

The voters are about to jump out of the Tory frying-pan into the Labour fire, and progressive voters, in particular, are about to make an enormous mistake - one they'll regret for the rest of their lives. My advice to them is this, one which I doubt very much they'll heed: don't vote Labour, vote for the Liberal Democrats instead, or - if you can't bring yourself to do that - vote for the Greens, the Scottish Greens, or the Nationalists.