{"id":323494,"date":"2025-11-28T23:02:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/keir-starmer-faces-leadership-crisis-despite-budget\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T23:02:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:02:05","slug":"keir-starmer-faces-leadership-crisis-despite-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=323494","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer Faces Leadership Crisis Despite Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"


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If Keir Starmer<\/a> was under any illusions that the Budget would reverse the steep decline in his popularity, BBC1\u2032s Question Time<\/a> on Thursday night quickly disabused him of that notion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It was a rather different response from the one provided by Labour<\/a> MPs just 24 hours before.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They had cheered and waved their House of Commons order papers to show their appreciation of the chancellor\u2019s decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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All the talk of Starmer facing a pre-Christmas leadership challenge seemed to have been put to bed by the chancellor\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Reeves also announced that she was continuing the freeze on income tax thresholds, a move which will see 1.8 million people having over more of their wages to the Treasury. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It seemed a pretty clear breach of Labour\u2019s manifesto commitment not to put up taxes on working pepole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A Labour veteran told HuffPost UK: \u201cAll they\u2019ve done is tell working people you\u2019re going to pay more tax to keep people on benefits. That\u2019s how it will be viewed in the public mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One senior party figure added: \u201cHigher tax for more welfare is not a winning proposition for Labour, and it has never been throughout our history.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This observation appeared to be borne out by the initial polling on the Budget by YouGov.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Patrick English, the firm\u2019s director of political analytics, told Times Radio: \u201cThis Budget was deemed as unfair by the British public by a margin of 48% to 21%, and that is significant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not the case that we see the public simply dismissing every fiscal event by the government as unfair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cFor example, the Budget in 2018 went down quite well with the public, the Covid Budgets, even the Labour government\u2019s first Budget was rated neutral by the public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBut this one is the second most unpopular Budget that we have recorded, second to \u2013 you\u2019ve guessed it \u2013 the Liz Truss mini-Budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s where we are in the court of public opinion with this government and its economic plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Party insiders believe that this weekend will be crucial, with MPs returning to their constituencies and speaking to voters about how the Budget affects them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThings could be very different come Monday, once they\u2019ve spoken to ordinary workers who resent having to pay more tax to fund people on the dole,\u201d said a source.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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An MP said: \u201cI do think the hyperbole about the Parliamentary Labour Party being settled down by the Budget is a bit overwritten. It\u2019s not moved the dial really, it just hasn\u2019t blown up yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThere is a lot of energy from the loyalty merchants, but I think in the main, people are nervy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One government frontbencher accused the prime minister of \u201criding Rachel\u2019s coat tails\u201d among Labour MPs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThings could flare up again quite easily,\u201d the MP said. \u201cPeople still don\u2019t like or trust Keir and his No.10 operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAnd people still know that for all the recent attempts to improve relations with MPs, if they got hit by a bus tomorrow, No.10 would spend 10 minutes trying to work out who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The first post-Budget test of the PM\u2019s authority came on Thursday, when the government U-turned on a key Labour manifesto commitment <\/a>to strengthen workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a major concession to business, it was announced that employees would no longer be able to make an unfair dismissal claim from their first day in a new job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Employment Rights Bill was being piloted through the Commons by Angela Rayner before she was forced to quit the cabinet for not paying enough council tax.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Former minister Justin Madders, a close ally of Rayner, was quick out the blocks to declare: \u201cIt might be a compromise. It might even be necessary to get the Bill passed asap. But it most definitely is a manifesto breach.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Others on the left of the party \u2013 who had welcomed the Budget just the day before \u2013 were also on the warpath.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell described it as a \u201csellout\u201d, while fellow left-winger Andy McDonald said it was \u201ca complete betrayal\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The U-turn has put No.10 back \u201cin crisis mode\u201d, according to a Labour source, and demonstrated that some MPs can never be satisfied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cCaving in on things like winter fuel, welfare cuts and the two-child cap only encourages them to rebel,\u201d said one Labour peer. \u201cThey\u2019ll think \u2018we only have to breathe on them and they roll over\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019ll believe that by getting the government to do these things, they\u2019ll have a better chance of holding on to their seats. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cToo many of them would rather work for a charity or be social workers than actually run the country \u2013 they just don\u2019t get how ordinary people think.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A senior Labour source described the Budget as \u201ca post-dated cheque for May\u201d, when the party is staring down the barrel of electoral humiliation in the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and in councils across England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt gets them through to that, but it won\u2019t protect Keir if those elections are really bad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A fragile peace between 10 Downing Street and the Parliamentary Labour Party is just about holding 48 hours on from the Budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the revolt over workers\u2019 rights shows how precarious Starmer\u2019s position remains both in the Commons and with the public at large.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He and his team will probably be able to keep the show on the road for the next five months \u2013 but the chances of that remaining the case after May are becoming more remote with every day that passes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n