The winner of the election came as no surprise, but Starmer’s progressive-sounding headlines definitely came as a surprise to me. Where has our rich tea biscuit (flavourless, no ones favourite, but palatable) of a candidate for PM gone? With rumblings of the idea that Starmer was a lefty all along, and was simply toning himself down to prevent a repeat of Corbyn’s 2019 result, I am here to analyse Starmer’s U-turns and investigate whether Starmer has pulled off the most progressive Trojan horse campaigns of all time, or if we’re being oddly optimistic as D:Ream’s “Things Can Only Get Better” rings in our eardrums.
Trans Rights
This first issue may be a small one to many readers, but can drastically change the lives of some voters, but due to their small population, this can easily slip under the radar on voting day and thereafter.
When it comes to trans rights, Starmer’s stances have changed like the weather. In 2021, when MP for Canterbury, Rosie Duffield, said that women have a cervix (which in regards to this debate, implies that transgender women, who do not have cervixes, are not real women), that’s when we started to see Labour being backed into a culture-war corner.
Starmer at first claimed that Duffield’s comment was ‘something that shouldn’t be said,’ and at the time, Starmer was in favour of self-ID for trans people.
In 2022 he said that “trans women are women” and backed calls for the Gender Recognition Act to allow transgender people to be legally recognised as their gender based on self-declaration, instead of requiring a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which can take years to obtain.
Then in 2024, he said that Duffield had “every right” to say this, and that trans women have no right to use women’s restrooms. This man is very difficult to track when his opinions change this often.
But get ready for another change. Starmer then announced that “sex and gender are different” in a response to Pink News in the runup to the election, which I must stress, was in a long response to the publication that did not answer any of the questioned asked by them.
Kier’s exact words were: “My Labour government – if we come in to serve – will provide a reset moment for those in the LGBT+ community who want to live as they choose in accordance with the law.” What a promise. That’s 3 opinions, two switches, but not exactly coming back to his original stance of self ID.
I’d argue on trans rights, there was no Trojan horse involved, as Starmer isn’t actually taking any action to improve the lives of transgender people at this point, he’s only written a letter, rather than actually outlining any promises or policies to improve trans rights. On this issue, I’d argue that there is no plan to actually aid the T in LGBT, just empty words that, until they are acted on, will remain somewhat meaningless.
Immigration
Onto immigration, Starmer promised to “defend free movement as we leave the EU” when he was campaigning to be Labour leader, and to treat migrants with dignity and respect.
In the past years this has changed, and whilst the death of deportations to Rwanda has made headlines, Kier Starmer is still for deportations, claiming that “not enough people from places like Bangladesh are being sent back” when speaking to The Sun, which in itself has caused unrest amongst Northern Labour MPs in the past.
This comment on Bangladeshi people has caused one British-Bangladeshi Labour councillor to quit. Starmer arguably didn’t treat migrants with “dignity and respect” at all in this interview, stoking division between British taxpayers and migrants, telling an audience: “who’s paying for the hotel rooms? You are”.
Again, whilst the Rwanda Scheme is “dead and buried”, why would it not be? It’s a policy infamous to the Tories now, why would the first Labour Prime Minister in 14 years keep it? This isn’t to say that Starmer is ready to treat migrants with respect.
His manifesto plan on immigration, Starmer mostly targets legal migrants, working migrants, as he planned to boost UK citizens skills so that they can do the jobs that many migrants come from overseas to do, as they have for years.
Generally, Starmer has only made one change here, he no longer plans to treat migrants with “dignity and respect”, and hopeful lefties shouldn’t be fooled that the scrapping of the Rwanda scheme is progressive, but a power move, hinting that Starmer is not in for a “trojan horse” term, but more of the same on some issues, just with different names.
Palestine
On international relations, Starmer’s stance on Palestine has shook left-wing circles. In his 10 pledges, Starmer promised to review all UK arm sales, and to prioritise human rights and peace when discussing international relations.
In contrast, as addressed in the last tracker, Starmer ignored calls for a ceasefire in Gaza in 2023, and defended Israel’s right to defend itself adamantly, as he said that a ceasefire would only “embolden” Hamas. He also said that Israel “had the right” to cut Gaza’s electricity and water supply in October.
This was until this stance began to lose him votes in Muslim constituencies, at which point he announced that he did in fact want a ceasefire, in line with his statements in 2021, when he supported an independent Palestinian state.
Days before the election, he said on LBC that he needed to see “more evidence” that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza, when the death toll stood at 37,953 people. But since getting into office, Starmer has had calls with Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently when he stressed the need of a ceasefire, and an increase in humanitarian aid.
He also called President Abbas of Palestine to discuss aid, a ceasefire, return of hostages, and the “undeniable right of Palestinians” for a legitimate Palestinian state.
Overall, Kier Starmer started with one opinion, jumped ship to another, and has since jumped back. So two switches, but standing by his original opinions prior to the election year. Could this support the idea that Starmer was in fact running a Trojan horse campaign? I’d argue, yes. But only if he actually fulfils his promise to recognise Palestine as a state.
Finances
When it comes to more economic left-wing issues, Starmer has made many promises that he will not fulfil. One thing that Starmer promised to lefties as he pretended to be Jeremy Corbyn was that he’d “reverse the Tories cuts in corporation tax and clamp down on tax avoidance”, also promising to increase income tax on the top 5% of earners.
We all heard Sunak and Starmer’s bickering over tax over the campaign, the “yes they will” and “no they won’t” of it all, and according to Labour’s manifesto, for corporations, no they won’t.
The manifesto claims that corporation tax will be capped at 25% and will be re-examined if tax changes overseas threaten UK competitiveness. Starmer hasn’t commented on this since winning, and so so far its clear that there was no Trojan horse when it came to taxes, just a U-turn.
Starmer promised in his pledges to be Labour leader that there’d be “no stepping away from our core principles.” This was reflected as he reassured voters in late 2022 that he would abolish the House of Lords, as he promised back in 2020.
Starmer has turned away from this policy too, watering it down to a “reform”, despite Starmer calling the House of Lords ‘indefensible’ in the past. Kier Starmer’s Labour has made it clear that despite radical, youth-inspiring promises, it feels like Kier Starmer is still on the side of society’s elites. You can have all the toolmaker dad’s in the world, but that doesn’t undo policy drops.
Overall, after my last tracker concerning young people’s issues, it was clear that Starmer is a serial U-turner. But with hopes that maybe he’s more progressive than people thought circulating online, specifically in left-wing circles, the rumours of a Trojan Horse campaign had to be addressed. And after analysing these lefty issues, its clear to see that Starmer is no Corbyn, regardless of your thoughts on either or them. Starmer has to do a lot more to prove that he’s truly left-wing, and until that happens, it’s impossible to prove that he lead a Trojan campaign at all, rather, that he’s just a lot milder than he wants us to know.
Featured Image Credit: Pexels
4th year Politics and Journalism student.
Secretary for Brig
The Herald Student Press Awards Columnist Of The Year 2024 (which sorry i’m still not over)
