Labour’s first 100 days running UK panned as ‘worst start in living memory’

London, United Kingdom – Keir Starmer, who will on Saturday mark his first 100 days in office as the British prime minister (PM), is unpopular.

The 62-year-old former lawyer’s favorability ratings, according to a YouGov poll on October 8, have dropped to the lowest level since he took over as Labour leader in 2020, and his popularity has decreased even further since becoming PM.

More than six in 10 Britons now dislike Starmer, YouGov reported.

“It’s easily the worst start to a government’s time in office in living memory – and it wasn’t as if Labour were that popular anyway”, Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, told Al Jazeera.

Starmer on July 4 led his then-opposition party to a resounding election victory and large majority in Parliament, sweeping the Conservatives, in power for more than a decade, into the shadows.

But turnout was low at about 50 percent, the poorest level by share of population since universal suffrage.

“The freebie problem is the most immediate issue]Labour] need to put behind them because it’s badly damaged their brand”, said Bale.

“In the long term, the main issues – as they always are, are the economy and the NHS. If the government can get them right, they stand a chance of recovering”.

Recent weeks have seen the most attention for a donations scandal.

Starmer, whose annual salary is now about 167, 000 pounds ($218, 000), has declared receiving freebies worth more than 100, 000 pounds ($131, 000) over the past five years. He has accepted gifts during this time more than any other MP, some of which came after winning the PM position.

News of the accommodation costs, pricey glasses, Taylor Swift concert tickets, football match tickets, clothing and other giveaways he has embraced has angered the British public, many of whom are still grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Starmer’s donors include a wealthy Labour peer, Lord Waheed Alli, and the Premier League.

Although accepting gifts is permitted, the PM and other Labour MPs who have abused freebies are accused of being greed because Labour is traditionally a left-wing party that values equality and transparency.

There are also questions over influence.

Henry Newman, an ex-political adviser to the Conservatives and the director of The Whitehall Project on Substack, told the Financial Times: “]Starmer’s] personal donor, Alli, was given privileged access to Downing Street while working on both fundraising and government appointments. Without Lord Alli’s exact role, concerns about cronyism will continue to grow. The government needs to clarify.

‘ It’s been quite a shaky start ‘

By restricting the pensioners’ winter fuel payment, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also caused a stir among many people, leaving about 10 million elderly people without the equivalent of a few hundred pounds of relief from energy price increases this winter.

“It’s been quite a shaky start”, said Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London. “The surprise was how badly they’ve handled it”.

He thinks there is a problem with Labour’s public relations.

“They’ve allowed]the donations scandal] to be the story … They failed quickly enough to come out with a coherent coordinating response”, he said.

“What you want is the government to intervene and tell us a story about our situation and where they’re taking us,” the government responded. Over the first few months in government, there hasn’t been a narrative, and I think because of that, there’s been a hole. Everyone’s waiting for the budget”.

Reeves, who accepted a 7, 500-pound donation ($9, 800) before the election to use on clothing, will unveil the budget on October 30. There is rumor that the government might increase certain taxes, including inheritance and capital gains.

Labour has made it clear that the state pension will increase by 4% and that it will follow its election promise to add VAT to private school tuition, in addition to delaying the winter fuel payment to the wealthier pensioners.

In September, Starmer, Reeves and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner tried to draw a line under the donations scandal, saying they would no longer accept free clothing.

Steven Fielding, a professor of politics at the University of Nottingham and author of a book that examines the Labour Party since the 1970s, claims that Starmer’s administration has been “stumbling” rather than “striding purposefully into the future.

He said Labour “totally misunderstood” the timeframe that most British voters live in, “which is they want jam today, not tomorrow, even though it’s unreasonable to expect it”.

The freebies and the pensioners’ poor old pensioners losing out on their winter fuel payments have been the two main themes that have persisted throughout this period of 100 days, according to the author.

While neither issue is “quite as bad” as headlines suggest, since politicians accepting donations is hardly novel and because the payment will still reach tens of millions of pensioners in need, “that’s the takeaway”, said Fielding.

After a fatal stabbing attack against young girls in northern England, Starmer’s first days in office were shook by race riots across the country. Online agitators, who were stooling the flames of division, came up with the idea of a Muslim immigrant suspect to blame and succeeded in infiltrating thousands of rioters.

Starmer backed what his home secretary called “swift justice” against the rioters, winning praise for his calm yet firm response.

However, the hard-right MP Nigel Farage led the PM’s critics, a group which includes billionaire Elon Musk, in accusing the government of overseeing “two-tier” policing, suggesting without evidence that minority groups and the left are punished less severely than white offenders.

Amid riots, a scandal and a financial blow to pensioners, some of Labour’s less dramatic promises have fallen under the radar.

Starmer promised a 10-year plan to improve the NHS in September, stating that the health service would need to be funded before reform.

Most Britons will be affected by any changes to the health service, which is plagued by lengthy waiting lists and staff shortages, a significant issue for the election campaign.

“Labour will definitely hope that the first 100 days will not be in the forefront of anybody’s mind by the time there’s a next election”, said Fielding.

Source: Aljazeera