Andrew Fisher on a Labour leadership that is terrified of debate

Last weekend’s meeting of the National Policy Forum (NPF) showed the Labour leadership in full control of the party – but looking more remote and powerless in the face of the economic, social and climate crises they will inherit in government.

They now sit in a state of fiscal immobilisation – hemmed in by arbitrary fiscal rules that they made up, and pledges – though those can easily be broken – not to raise income tax, corporation tax or VAT, or to impose any form of wealth tax.

It is well rehearsed that Keir Starmer has abandoned the ten pledges to the Labour membership when running for leader – and so it was no surprise that calls for the public ownership of water and energy were rejected – as were demands to scrap tuition fees.

During the leadership campaign, Keir Starmer also tweeted that “we must scrap … punitive sanctions, two-child limit and benefits cap.” In 2020, the Deputy Leader described the policy as “obscene and inhumane”. Just a few weeks ago, the current Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Jonathan Ashworth, described the two-child limit on benefits as “heinous”.

The NPF may have agreed the policy was “heinous, but staying” – we don’t know because NPF delegates have been sworn to secrecy, so that they are unable to report back on the exact wording agreed – despite multiple leaks from the leadership to right-wing journalists.

The Times reported that “Keir Starmer is claiming victory after amendments calling for Labour to end the two child benefit cap, along with other spending pledges wanted by the left, were rejected at the party’s national policy forum.” If this is what victory looks like, defeat has lost its sting.

Modest demands for universal free school meals for primary schoolchildren were also rejected – a policy being delivered by the Labour government in Wales, and by the SNP government in Scotland with the backing of Scottish Labour. London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan is also funding the policy for London children from September.

Explicit support for the triple-lock on pensions has also gone, apparently now dependent on whether the Tories also do it. The triple-lock has enjoyed cross-party consensus since 2011, and it is a vital tool in tackling pensioner poverty. For those wanting to fight intergenerational wars, it is worth noting that the basic state pension is still £50 lower per week than it would have been had Thatcher not broken the earnings link in the early 1980s.

Even New Labour policies were deemed fiscally irresponsible at the National Policy Forum. Proposals to provide extra funding for Sure Start were rejected too. In some ways this mirrors the debacle over the Welfare Bill in 2015, when interim leader Harriet Harman refused to defend tax credits from Tory attacks – even New Labour’s parsimonious largesse is too far.

Labour’s failings under Starmer go deeper than debilitating fiscal immobilisation. While the rhetoric from the leadership is that “reform will have to do the heavy lifting”, that excludes any left-wing reforms.

Calls for rent controls, a policy backed by Labour mayors, including Marvin Rees in Bristol, Sadiq Khan in London and Andy Burnham in Manchester. Rent controls would not only be cost-free to implement, but could save the government money in capped housing benefit payments to private landlords.

There was also no commitment on the value of the minimum wage. Various unions had proposed a £12 or £15 level, but both proposals were rejected. This should give activists flashbacks to 2015, when George Osborne outflanked Ed Balls and Ed Miliband on this issue – promising a £9 minimum wage, when Labour had only suggested £8 per hour.

Other cost-free measures like repealing the Tories’ voter ID laws and the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill were also ruled out.

This tells us that this is a Labour leadership that is cautious about more than public spending. It is terrified of debate. The senior ranks of the Labour leadership are incapable of making a political argument or of defending a political position, and so their solution is seemingly to have little to defend.

Whether before or after the election, reality will intrude. The incoming Labour government will inherit crises in the economy, in public services, in housing and on climate. If they fail to respond to them in office, the next Labour government will be short-lived.

Andrew Fisher was Director of Policy of the Labour Party 2015-19. He spoke at the recently organised Reportback from Labour’s NPF alongside a range of other speakers, the video of which is available here.

Image: c/o Mike Phipps

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