Prime Minister Keir Starmer (M) with Deputy PM Angela Rayner (R) and Chancellor Rachel Reeves (L) (Image: PA)
I never had much faith in a government fronted by the likes of Ed Miliband, David Lammy, and Rachel Reeves. In fact, if this were a comedy, Starmer’s Cabinet picks would be considered too slapstick to air on TV.
Of course, while Labour would like to praise the diversity of this government – which incidentally is strikingly, er, white, compared with the last Tory government, but who cares – that is precisely what they lack: diversity. True diversity of experience that is… not the shallow, skin-deep woke ‘diversity’ the left likes to shove down our throats.
Never mind Keir Starmer nominating complete incompetents to key ministerial roles. It is the glaring lack of private-sector business experience that is the most concerning. And it has never been more apparent. Virtually every member of the government has built their career in the public sector, sucking on the teat of government money and never making the tough decisions small business owners have to make.
Indeed, compared to fifty years ago, Parliament has become less, not more, diverse. Where are the industry leaders, the chemists, the plumbers, the electricians and the teachers? Where are the people who don’t owe their career progression to lobby groups, quangos or the civil service?
Surely we can do better than human rights lawyers, Oxford PPE graduates and Labour student activists? But that is precisely what we have.
Take net zero czar Ed Miliband for example. An Oxford PPE graduate (surprise, surprise), he started his career as a policy researcher and speechwriter to then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Harriet Harman. He was subsequently appointed as a special adviser to then Chancellor Gordon Brown. A SpAd at the ripe old age of 27? No wonder Ed never bothered to get a real job. Why would he need to see how the world works with such a glowing CV?
Then you have Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Another Oxford PPE grad. She too began her career as a policy researcher for then Shadow Chancellor John Smith before becoming a policy advisor to… Harriet Harman! And at the age of 23, no less!
Even Foreign Secretary David Lammy had only three years of actual work experience in law before entering public office in 2000. Yet these are the people making the key decisions that affect millions of people concerning businesses, taxes and public services.
Is it any wonder then that the public has become so disillusioned with this Labour government in such record time?
And with Rachel Reeves, whose ambiguous CV is still the talk of the town, refusing to rule out further tax hikes, we are seeing the real-life consequences of stacking the Government with public-sector cronies.
If Ms Reeves had spent more time managing a corner shop instead of embellishing her CV, which is putting it mildly, she would know that you can’t tax your way to growth. You cannot clobber businesses with a £25billion national insurance increase and not expect unemployment to rise. And now, with companies facing the double-whammy of an increased minimum wage, we can expect fewer jobs or more jobs to be moved abroad.
Is the Government still interested in growing the economy? What happened to Keir Starmer’s statements about how “small businesses are the next generation wealth creators”?
I thought he wanted Britain under Labour to be where “business has the certainty to invest”. In case he hasn’t noticed, businesses are fleeing like bats out of hell. Tax rises are not the way to increase investment. And anyone with basic business knowledge knows this.
Surely, you would expect a Bank of England economist to know this, right? Or, at the very least, someone who handled “banking operations”, as Ms Reeves’ newly edited CV shows.
But this government has left much to be desired. In just five months, it has broken almost every promise it made.
In 2022, Starmer described pensioners as “the poorest in our society, still facing the coldest winter of their lives”. This winter, he decided to deprive most of them of the winter fuel allowance.
The Prime Minister said he would support the “abolition of tuition fees”, before proceeding to increase them for the first time since 2017.
Last year, Environment Secretary Steve Reed promised farmers that there would be no changes to inheritance tax rules, including Agricultural Property Relief (APR). Now, many small farms are facing the prospect of having to sell their land to pay inheritance tax on assets of over £1 million.
It seems that unless you are a train driver or a union boss, Labour is determined to make your life more difficult than ever.
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