The Labour leader is on his 11th relaunch. There is no reason to think his newfound euroscepticism will last
Yesterday’s Brexit speech by Sir Keir Starmer at the Irish Embassy for the 24th Anniversary of the Centre for European Reform was deemed significant enough to receive a live broadcast, yet there was little new for anybody to take away from it. Two years into his leadership Labour’s policy cupboard still remains embarrassingly bare.
“Make Brexit Work” is the 11th slogan workshopped publicly by Starmer since becoming leader in 2020. Each slogan has been launched more earnestly than the last, the expectant pause to see if anybody has noticed slightly longer each time. Whilst this is not one of the previous ten, it is also not a new slogan.
If you did miss it the first time, and most people did, it was part of Starmer’s speech to the CBI in November last year. The Labour party was so sure of the gravitas of this new slogan that in its transcript of the speech they capitalised it. One must assume it has since tested well in those much-vaunted focus groups with former Labour voters in Red Wall seats and has earnt itself a dusting off.
However, despite the fanfare, at its heart the speech was little more than a warmed-over reworking of November’s. In that, Starmer first made clear that Labour would not seek to rejoin the EU, would not seek to join the Customs Union and would not seek to join the Single Market. So far so familiar. He then proceeded to lay out his five-point plan, but aside from proposing a veterinary agreement for trade in agri-products (now bumped from his first point in November to second this time around) the remaining four points differ significantly. Like all good reboots the plot and the title remain familiar, but the script has been changed in the hope of appealing to a new audience.
This cynical lurch towards a focus on Brexit feels very much like a retreat to safe ground for Labour. But why would anyone believe a politician whose brand is integrity, but whose actions have shown him to be fickle and easily swayed? Starmer was Shadow Brexit Secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, responsible for defining Labour’s stance on the key election issue that saw them slump to their worst election result in nearly a century. He has been roundly criticised by those on the Left for reneging on the pledges he made prior to winning the Labour leadership in 2020, one of which was to defend free movement as Britain left the EU. His track record on the topic should not inspire confidence.
As Labour leader, Starmer has repeatedly been found wanting when it comes to political conviction. He has prevaricated on everything from striking union members to housing a Ukrainian family. This has left many trying to work out to what it is the current Labour Party stands for.
Labour are struggling to make significant political gains despite a febrile political climate which should be greatly to their advantage. The aim of yesterday’s speech feels as though it was an attempt to draw a line under Brexit that buys Labour time and allows Starmer to swerve a thorny issue upon which he has neither conviction nor policy.
Given his penchant to relaunch every ten weeks or so, if this slogan doesn’t stick, at least the voters he is so desperate to appeal to won’t have to wait long for the next one.
