Dear John,
Yesterday in Liverpool, the PM laid out his long term plan for “national renewal” – to transform Britain back into a prosperous and functioning country. But somehow, that plan completely ignores Britain’s broken democracy.
“Britain belongs to you,” Starmer told Labour conference today. He claimed he wanted to build a nation of collective participation, where we work together on the key issues of our time. He didn’t mention, however, how that’s actually meant to work when a majority of Britons feel they have no say in what government does.
He mentioned the various deficits left after over a decade of Conservative misrule. A financial “blackhole” that ostensibly limits public spending, a “societal blackhole” that divides communities, and a “political blackhole” that undermines trust in politics.
But unlike the other two, he gave no plan to rebalance our democratic deficit. For the public finances, Starmer claims we need strict rules to restore economic stability. Where are the new rules driving political stability? How do we ensure that change lasts, and that governments can’t abuse the public trust as Boris Johnson and Liz Truss did so catastrophically?
Starmer claimed that a Labour government will usher in “permanent and irreversible” change. He did so seemingly without recognising that under First-Past-The-Post, without those changes we need to our politics, a new and radical government could (quite easily) wipe away his entire legacy.
The racist thugs he condemned so heartily in his speech today could well be in power in five years time, unless he takes bold action to bring British politics out of its rut and back to the people.
Once again, Keir Starmer is saying the right things – but talk is easy. We’re calling on the Prime Minister to take real action instead of paying lip service, to make actual “tough decisions” about much-needed political reforms like Proportional Representation and digital regulation.
