Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
oneanother day another day U-turn.
Latest price reduction by Keir StarmerMore than 19 months since winning a huge majority at the general election, the government is working on an unpopular plan to Mandatory digital ID for workers.
According to rough statistics, this is the 13th U-turn after the reversal in 2017. Winter fuel costssecond-child welfare cap, income tax increase, Give up bar business fee reduction There is more.
No wonder the Lib Dems are prescribing motion sickness pills to Downing Street this morning to cope with the number of U-turns Prime Minister Currently taking.
One minister said last week that the number of U-turns was a sign of strength because it showed the government was “listening”.
That’s a charitable way of looking at it, but the reality is that so many U-turns are a sign of only one thing – weakness.
U-turns in government attitudes often occur because they lack the power to push their agenda. In fact, it is rarely due to domestic anger.
So the three million people who signed the petition against the digital identity scheme may have influenced the decision, but more importantly it was the arithmetic in the House of Commons.
Many Labor MPs view the policy as intrusive, cost-prohibitive, unnecessary and an attempt to revive a failed Tony Blair program.
Getting the initial digital identity plan through will prove to be much more difficult than it should be for a government elected less than two years ago with a 170-vote majority.
Regardless, this is unlikely to be the last U-turn. According to reports, it has been independent Over the weekend, some Labor MPs predicted a U-turn on plans to scrap the right to jury trials for all but the most serious crimes.
The problem with this government seems to be that the prime minister himself lacks the authority to claim his authority. policy and keeping his backbenchers in line.
Ever since the previous welfare rebellion this summer forced him to abandon real modest cuts to the welfare budget, backbenchers knew that if they fought back hard enough, he would be brought down.
Even the arbitrary, well-known punishment of suspending the whip of certain rebels seemed to have little effect in restoring order.
The best-kept secret in Westminster is that there will almost certainly be an attempt to replace Starmer as Labor leader and prime minister at some point this year. There are a number of candidates expected to succeed him, including Minister of Health Wes Streetingsecretary of energy Ed Milibandformer Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham.
The problem is that digital IDs are relatively unpopular with the public unless they have the Prime Minister’s name attached to them. Labour’s polling shows he is personally unpopular, with the party’s approval rating stuck at 19 per cent, alarming MPs and having such a corrosive effect on this government.
A YouGov poll this week showed Starmer’s unpopularity with the public had reached record levels – and that was before he tried to ban X/Twitter (although a U-turn is also expected).
great conservative strategist Linton Crosby There’s a saying, “knock the barnacles off the boat.”
What he means is getting rid of unnecessary policies and ideas that distract from the government’s main business as a means of survival. This is what political leaders do when trying to respond to leadership challenges or limit political damage in elections.
That’s exactly what Sir Keir did to keep his job as Prime Minister. He is adopting survival strategies. The trouble for the Prime Minister was that instead of knocking the barnacles off the boat, he lost control of the tiller.