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Dear John,

At Labour’s conference this week, the rise of Reform UK loomed large. Polls now show Starmer as the least popular Prime Minister in history, with Farage’s party surging towards a potential electoral landslide. We saw hints of a shift from Starmer – but it’s too soon to tell: will meaningful action follow the PM’s words?

Starmer tried out a new tone. He unequivocally condemned the far right’s racist rallies, jabbed at Farage’s false patriotism, and called for decency, unity, and renewal. Importantly, he finally began to call out and push back against Farage’s long-standing grievance narrative, showing us a glimpse of a Prime Minister capable of taking on the far-right.

It’s certainly welcome to see an end to the “island of strangers” communications strategy.

But rhetoric is only part of the picture. While denouncing Reform’s plan to scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR), new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also announced she would double the time required to qualify for ILR.

It looks like another attempt to triangulate – courting Farage’s voters with diluted versions of his own policies. The danger is obvious: people who want hardline anti-migrant politics will always go for the original, while Labour risks alienating its own supporters.

And beyond immigration, Starmer didn’t give us much substance in terms of “renewal”. The long-awaited Hillsborough Law (enforcing accountability and candour on public bodies) is a significant step forward, but there was nothing specific on fixing our broken political system. The routine ‘growth, growth, growth’ platitudes just won’t cut it when the elephant in the room is Westminster itself – a remote system that silences ordinary voices and erodes trust.

Starmer’s 2024 victory made a hefty promise: a fairer, more honest, more tolerant Britain. That’s still possible, and Starmer’s words convey a recognition (if a very late one) of that reality. But words alone are not enough. It’s time for Starmer to put his money where his mouth is.

Others at conference – including Open Britain, Labour For a New Democracy, and the APPG for Fair Elections – were there to light the way forward. Andy Burnham and a host of Labour MPs joined us at the Labour4PR rally to call for a fairer voting system. The APPG for Fair Elections made the next step abundantly clear: ([link removed]) a National Commission for Electoral Reform ([link removed]) that can begin to rebuild that lost trust.

Starmer and Mahmood can keep playing whack-a-mole with Farage’s policies. They can try to court right-wing voters that will never back them. Or they can actually put Starmer’s speech into practice, and do what it takes to deliver the fairer Britain that people voted for last year.

Yours,

The Open Britain Team
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