The abrupt end of Sir Keir Starmer’s time as Prime Minister has shown Labour’s priorities don’t match those of people living in the country. Meanwhile, Labour MPs and ministers are delusional about their record in Government.
Starmer stood in Downing Street claiming the economy is stronger than when Labour took office. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in an attempt to keep her job, has urged Burnham to stick to what she has been doing as it’s supposedly “beginning to bear fruit”.
The reality is different. Unemployment has increased, and forecast rates have been revised upwards. Small businesses, including in Wokingham Borough, are struggling after two tax-hiking Budgets by the Chancellor – despite Labour’s election pledge not to raise taxes on working people.
Starmer boasted about increasing defence spending, even though two Defence Ministers resigned over an inadequate financial settlement for the Armed Forces. We now know additional military funding is around £13 billion less than was sought by defence chiefs, and will see the Ministry of Defence reducing its spending by £11 billion.
The outgoing Prime Minister talked about small boat crossings – he has presided over the highest number of migrants crossing the channel of any PM, averaging 100 every day.
In the House of Commons, he defended the Education Secretary, despite recent survey of teachers showing 0% think she is doing “very well” in her job compared to 74% who think she’s doing badly.
A more self-reflective Prime Minister might ask that if his record was so good, why has his party forced him out?
It’s not just the top of the Labour Party that is completely out of touch. Yuan Yang, Labour MP for Woodley and Earley, also has a very distorted sense of what the Government is doing and how her constituents live.
On BBC Newsnight, she claimed Ed Miliband is making energy cheaper, even though energy bills increased under Labour – despite a manifesto pledge to cut them – and the energy price cap is set to go up again this year.
On the same programme, Yuan Yang talked about public transport, saying it “is how all of our constituents manage to get their way to work”. According to the Office for National Statistics, Wokingham Borough has a car ownership rate of 91%, compared to the rate for England and Wales of 77%. It’s simply not true to claim everyone in Earley and Woodley is commuting by bus or train.
When asked what she wanted to hear Andy Burnham say, the first thing our MP mentioned was Thames Water, not defence, energy security or a new replacement for the Royal Berkshire hospital.
Before being elected Yuan Yang made a new hospital central to her campaign and promised on BBC Radio Berkshire the new hospital would begin before the next General Election in 2029 under Labour. Yet, the Government has since pushed back delivery by at least a decade.
With Andy Burnham likely to become Prime Minister, Ms Yang has asserted he is a “unifying” figure – only time will tell. Many might wonder what the so-called ‘King of the North’ will mean for our Borough. With recent speeches focusing heavily on the North of England, it doesn’t seem likely we will see a flood of investment in our area, or a reversal of the cuts to our Council’s funding.
By Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, leader of Wokingham Conservatives
