Prime Minister’s Questions a reminder of continuing drift in Westminster
One of the biggest reasons for people’s discontent with the current Government is the feeling that it is failing to rapidly deliver the change that it promised. Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has moved too slow and too indecisively for the electorate’s liking.
By ditching Starmer, the Labour party is now going to spend the next month continuing to drift without any real direction.
Westminster politics instead has been reduced to Labour and the Tories fighting over who is doing the least worse. Little wonder Nigel Farage and his Reform UK have been able to make hay over the past couple of years.
The unedifying encounter at this week’s Prime Minister’s Question resulted in Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle interrupting the leaders and urging them to choose their words carefully.
The Speaker rightly warned “When we leave this chamber, don’t be surprised when constituents feel they can use the same language against each other.”
Both Labour and the Tories are going to have to start articulating a better vision for Britain because there is a real danger of them becoming irrelevant in the eyes of the voting public.
Starmer said the Government’s defence investment plan (Dip) would be published before the Nato summit, which begins on July 7. But it is clear that Starmer is going to be an isolated figure at the summit, his authority shot.
Changing leaders is not going to be enough for Labour. Unless Andy Burnham is able to deliver a transformative policy agenda at pace, without shirking difficult choices, the sense of drift in Westminster will continue.