Winning is more important than party unity, Keir Starmer declared at his first in-person party conference in 2021. The Labour leader is undeniably ambitious and has made it clear he will do whatever it takes to whip the party into governing shape, even dropping a number of policy and party pledges.
Leftwing insiders say he “committed political fraud to seize control of the party”. But Starmer himself has pointed to a closing speech he made at a leadership hustings in 2020, to justify his U-turns. “I said [at the time] if we don’t win, all the things the candidates are pledging will not come to pass,” he told Andrew Marr. “I made it clear that anyone voting for me as leader of the Labour party would have someone who is laser-light focused on winning the election.”
Here is a selection of U-turns Labour has made under Starmer.
Abolish tuition fees
Starmer promised to “end the national scandal of spiralling student debt” with a vow to abolish tuition fees. The commitment formed one of his 10 pledges, included to woo the left of the party during his run to become leader.
Changing his stance, Starmer said the country found itself in a “different financial situation”.
Green prosperity plan
At Starmer’s first in-person conference since winning the leadership contest, Labour vowed to invest £28bn a year in climate-related measures to protect the UK from disaster. In June, however, Labour delayed plans for a green prosperity fund to start in the first year of government, saying it would “ramp up” by the middle of a first parliament.
Blaming the Conservatives’ disastrous mini-budget for the delay, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said the party must stick to its new fiscal rule, that debt must be falling as a share of national income after five years.
Common ownership
The launch of Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy run on clean UK power was announced at the last Labour conference. This huge commitment came after Starmer partially dropped one of his 10 pledges to nationalise industries such as energy companies, the Royal Mail and water companies.
Reeves said the policy was not compatible with the new fiscal rules she would introduce, with Labour keen to highlight that it still planned to nationalise the railways.
Raising income tax for the highest earners
The Labour leader vowed to reintroduce the top tax band for the country’s highest earners last September. Starmer criticised Conservative ministers for making the “hugely divisive” move of handing out a tax cut to the well-off.
But in an interview with the Telegraph, Starmer then suggested he wanted to lower taxation, but was not “looking to the lever of taxation”. Labour says it is still committed to scrapping non-dom tax status and cracking down on tax avoidance.
Defend migrants’ rights
Labour’s messaging on defending migrant rights has shifted under Starmer’s leadership. When standing to become leader, Starmer said: “I want families to be able to live together, whether that’s in Europe or here … We have to make the case for freedom of movement.”
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But he has since ruled out a return to open borders as the UK has already left the EU. Labour officials said they wanted to avoid “ripping up” a Brexit deal that could lead to more years of “wrangling and arguing”.
Tech companies tax raid
Labour pledged to increase the levy charged on the revenues of tech companies operating in the UK from 2% to 10%. Companies including Amazon and Facebook would have been affected.
But after fears of a potential trade war with the US were raised, Labour dropped the plans. Instead the party has increased its efforts to scrap business rates, that will shift the burden from high street companies and on to online companies.
End universal credit
Starmer promised to abolish the benefits system and end the Tories’ “cruel sanctions regime”. But Labour has since reversed this idea, instead saying it would “fundamentally reform” the system and make it less complex.
Labour has defended the U-turn, claiming a simpler system would “better incentivise” people moving into work, as the party hopes to invest in lifelong learning.
Rosebank oil and gas field
Labour has vowed to block all new oil and gas developments in the North Sea. The party has been critical of government plans to develop the huge new Rosebank field, with shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband saying the proposals “would drive a coach and horses through our climate commitments”. After Miliband’s public criticism, Labour said it would not block Rosebank, which sits off the Shetland Islands, if it had already been approved by Rishi Sunak. Labour rejects claims that this is a shift in its policy position.