Despite claiming the moral high-ground over Johnson (the bar is in hell), Starmer has done an exceptional job at demonstrating his own lack of integrity. Starmer has broken all ten of his election pledges, and is now proposing to scrap them entirely. As a result, the party fails to meet the needs of those they claim to represent. I’ve broken down the ten pledges Starmer made during his leadership bid, demonstrating how they were broken, and why Labour should uphold them.

Pledge 1

His first pledge was economic justice - to ‘reverse the Tories’ cuts in corporation tax’ and ’clamp down on tax avoidance’. Starmer is centering the economy as the topic to fight the next general election on - so it is even more upsetting to see his failures on such a pivotal issue, with a refusal to rule out tax cuts in a Labour government. In a recent speech, Starmer claimed he wants to see a ’partnership between business and worker’, but in an economy in which businesses hold so much power over workers, this de facto will see workers further disempowered.

Pledge 2

Even within the public sector, he has refused to promise workers a pay rise in line with inflation - in other words, he will not commit to preventing a real terms pay cut, meaning his second pledge of social justice to ‘stand up for universal services’ and to ‘defend our NHS’, has also been broken. In the very same speech, he claims ’redistribution cannot repair the contract’. With no commitment to fair pay, no clear plan for redistribution or even the previously promised tax rises on the top 5% of earners and corporations, economic justice has vanished from his vision of a Labour government. With the abandonment of plans to ’abolish tuition fees’, nothing remains of his second pledge of social justice.

“The constant concession-making and lack of clarity on policies means that even during the Partygate scandal, Starmer was polling lower than Johnson”

Pledge 3

Dealing with the climate crisis requires radical action. With Labour calling - alongside the Tories - for the banning of protests outside oil infrastructure and on roads, the party continues to side with the corporations that bear some of the greatest responsibility in the destruction of the planet. The third pledge, ‘climate justice’, seems like another empty promise.

Pledge 4

Pledge 4, peace and human rights also fails on the issue of climate justice alone. Resource scarcity - including international food shortage - is an enormous cause of conflict. It’s impossible to separate the need for international climate justice and the promotion of peace and human rights, and Starmer is weak on both of these.

Pledge 5

With energy prices set to rise by 77% in October, an estimated 10 million people will be plunged into fuel poverty. It is more pressing than ever to stick to commitment number 5: common ownership of 'rail, mail, energy and water’ and renationalisation of our industries. In France, by comparison, the state-owned energy provider has capped prices at a 4% increase for the next year. These price hikes are a consequence of parasitic businesses exploiting vulnerability to increase their profits, and are avoidable. With Starmer now retracting a commitment to renationalisation, this disappointing change in policy reveals that the current leadership is unwilling to take genuinely bold steps to prevent the now inevitable freezing and impoverishment of millions of people. With BP announcing profits that have tripled to £7bn this year, the transfer of wealth in this country has clearly reached astounding new levels.

Pledge 6

Noticeably weak on condemning the abhorrent government plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, Starmer has also reversed the 6th promise to ’defend free movement’ as a part of Brexit plans. Promises to ‘defend migrants’ rights’ have thus been discarded. Starmer demonstrates, once again, that his tactic of tiptoeing around current issues just results in a failure to show leadership against injustice.

Pledge 7

Perhaps one of the most stark examples of the fallacy of his pledges was the firing of shadow transport secretary Tarry over joining a picket line. The ’proud trade unionist’ of 2020 seems to be just a mirage today. I was frustrated but unsurprised upon hearing this news, especially considering the recent successes of collective bargaining efforts across the country. In Bristol, the Sex Worker’s Collective have protected their right to a safe work space, refuse collectors in Rugby won a 12% pay rise, and I wrote previously about the success of UCU in Cambridge and at other universities and colleges. RMT representatives Lynch and Dempsey have done an incredible job of highlighting the lies of the wage-price spiral, the current excuse for real-terms pay cut of wages of workers whilst profits soar. This is the kind of leadership that is so desperately needed. Meanwhile, Starmer is u-turning on pledge 7 to ’strengthen workers rights and trade unions’, by sacking ministers for a display of solidarity with striking workers.

Pledge 8

It didn’t take long for Starmer to abandon pledge 8, the ‘radical devolution of power, wealth and opportunity’, which was set to include the abolition of the House of Lords. Considering that he has accepted a knighthood, his self-proclaimed opposition to unelected powers is unsurprisingly, unsubstantiated.

“Unless Labour drastically resets its goals, the consequences will be catastrophic for the working classes”

Pledge 9

A further early failing is pledge 9 of ‘Equality’. I wrote in my last instalment of his failure to expel transphobes from the party and to condemn the transphobic rhetoric of the leadership contestants that is reminiscent of Section 28 - ironic considering he claimed he wanted to build on its abolition. There’s been an abject failure to do so, even when presented the opportunity. The recent Forde report also reveals the rampant racism and islamophobia that still prevails within the party at all levels, and MPs expressed concerns that this was not being taken seriously by the leadership.

Pledge 10

So, where does that leave Starmer on pledge number 10, 'effective opposition to the Tories’? The constant concession-making and lack of clarity on policies means that even during the Partygate scandal, Starmer was polling lower than Johnson. It’s tiresome to see Starmer and his centrist following cling to what they deem the ‘rational’ approach to governance, a technocratic vision that rejects ideology’s place in politics. Although Starmer has swung between affirming that he is a socialist and refusing to answer this question, ultimately he sits firmly on the right of the party.

Setting up this false dichotomy between what is ‘rational’ and ‘ideological’- which is still an ideological stance - declares something that is untrue. If the Labour party wants to continue to consider itself the party of Labour, it has to continue to represent the interests of the majority - and this means centering a socialist ideology that promotes equality and justice. This is no longer present in Starmer’s plans.

Starmer not only fails to offer hope to those struggling with the cost of living crisis (which is more appropriately labelled a transfer of wealth crisis), but his tactic of pandering to the right on social and economic policy fails to appeal to any electoral base. This ‘pragmatism’ as an electoral strategy therefore succeeds only in further dragging the political landscape in the UK to the right - and the needs of the majority are ignored by each of the major parties.

Unless Labour drastically resets its goals and reorients them towards social and economic justice, the consequences will be catastrophic for the working classes - and millions more will join the ⅕ people in the UK today living in poverty.

Photo: Chris Boland / FLICKR / www.chrisboland.com/portraits