Labour needs a plan. It has not got one

Starmer’s party is caught between Rejoiner instincts and Leave-voting heartlands it cannot afford to alienate Daily Telegraph 18/05/26 Brexit is an issue that divides us, both as a nation and as political factions within that nation. Europe was the key fault line within the Conservative Party from the late 1980s until our withdrawal from its political structures was finally achieved in January 2020. The downfall of at least four Tory prime ministers – Thatcher, Major, Cameron and May – can be attributed to internecine conflict about our place in Europe.

Today it is Labour’s turn to suffer. The party has a problem that cannot be squared. Sir Keir Starmer and all his leadership rivals seemingly believe that Brexit was a colossal mistake and that they must do all within their power to reverse it in spirit if not in name. But natural Labour supporters in the party’s traditional heartlands overwhelmingly voted to take back control, to regain our sovereignty, in 2016. Most would do so again. How could any leader conceivably both satisfy these voters and their own Rejoiner instincts? In the forthcoming leadership election, candidates will make myriad Leftist pledges that will appeal to Labour members and trade unionists. Sir Keir himself did just this when he stood for the leadership in 2020, promising to increase the headline rate of income tax for the top 5 per cent of earners, scrap university tuition fees and nationalise the energy and water industries. But such socialist pipe dreams come up short when they meet simple economic reality. That taxes cannot be raised further than Labour has already done is clear from the IMF’s annual health check on the UK. The Government is very close to the point where more taxes will not actually produce any more revenue. The economy has been squeezed dry, and the tax burden is at wartime levels. The money is not, sadly, being spent on our defences but rather on the out-of-control welfare bill. The Labour Party has no room for manoeuvre on taxes or borrowing, so it clings to Europe as its great hope. But as Lord Blunkett, the Blair-era home secretary, makes clear on these pages today, for Labour to make the case for rejoining would be to commit electoral suicide. For Labour to have any chance of making a comeback, it must accept that the economic status quo is unsustainable and that we have reached the limits of tax-and-spend. Labour must have a plan to tackle this reality. But for now, there is little evidence that any of the candidates have any notion of how Britain can be put back on the right track. And rejoining the EU is certainly not the answer.