British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledges year of rebuilding after Labour's rocky start

Alex Wickham, Bloomberg News on Dec 31, 2024

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LONDON — Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government would spend the next year “rebuilding” Britain as he acknowledged the scale of the challenge he faces in turning around the U.K.’s stagnant economy and high cost of living.

“I know there is still so much more to do, and that for many people it’s hard to think about the future when you spend all of your time fighting to get through the week,” the premier said in a New Year’s message released by his office. “Until you can look forward and believe in the promise and the prosperity of Britain again, then this government will fight for you.”

That rhetoric appeared to be a nod to public opinion polls showing widespread dissatisfaction with the Labour administration after less than half a year in government. The party won a landslide in the U.K.’s July 4 election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, but Starmer’s first six months in office have been overshadowed by a series of economic and political difficulties that are likely to continue into 2025.

The U.K. economy has contracted for two straight months, according to the latest data, while a tax-raising budget at the end of October was widely criticized by businesses as crimping jobs, investment and growth. Private-sector activity is set for a “steep” decline in the next quarter, according to a pre-Christmas warning from the Confederation of British Industry that piles pressure on Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to find more ways ways to stimulate economic growth.

Starmer used his New Year’s message to repeat a pledge to reduce immigration into the U.K., though the failure of successive governments to prevent small boats carrying asylum seekers across the English Channel was put into focus once again over the holiday period. More than 1,500 people have entered the country via that route since Christmas Day, according to Home Office statistics, taking the total for the year to more than 36,000 — the second highest on record.

Irregular migration is one factor in the rise of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform U.K. party, which a recent poll suggested was surging in support and could threaten Labour’s chances of winning another majority at the next election, due in 2029. That Sunday Times survey suggested Labour would lose nearly 200 seats if an election were held today.

An Ipsos poll released Dec. 16, meanwhile, found some 61% of Britons are dissatisfied with Starmer, and 70% are unhappy with his government. The premier’s personal rating is the weakest of any prime minister measured by Ipsos going back to the late 1970s.

Defending his record in office so far, Starmer said he had already overseen a record rise in the minimum wage.

“Returns of foreign national criminals – up 20%,” the premier said, offering a list of his achievements. “Billions of pounds worth of new projects in clean British energy making our country more secure. And over £25 billion ($31 billion) invested in our NHS starting to cut waiting lists in your local hospital.”