Labour's leadership must be guided by principle and vision, not polling and political calculation
In a week that has exposed deepening fissures between the Labour leadership, party backbenchers and its traditional support base, Keir Starmer’s recent comments about Britain becoming an “island of strangers” ring painfully hollow. Hot on the heels of plans to slash disability benefits and a hastily executed U-turn on pensioner support, the Labour leadership appears to be navigating not by principle, but by polling data and political calculation. For a party that once prided itself on championing solidarity and social justice, this direction signals a betrayal of its founding values and a deepening crisis of trust among those it claims to represent. We must take back control of our party – before it’s too late.
Beginning with the Prime Minister’s “island of strangers” rhetoric, I find it utterly shameful to see my party’s leader echoing the same divisive, dog-whistle politics that have poisoned public discourse for over a decade. Framing immigrants as a threat to national cohesion is not only misleading – it’s dangerous. We’ve seen where this kind of scaremongering leads: rising hate crime, demonisation of refugees, and a toxic political climate where migrants are blamed for everything from housing shortages to NHS waiting times. It is not immigrants who have failed this country – it is political leaders who scapegoat them to cover for years of underinvestment and austerity. If Starmer is genuinely concerned about social disconnection, he should look to the social consequences of inequality and state neglect, not the people who have come here seeking safety or a better life. Britain doesn’t need more fear and division – it needs leadership grounded in truth and justice.
This week’s announcement on tweaks to winter fuel payments were also not driven by a newfound commitment to justice but by sheer political necessity. The Prime Minister’s decision to retreat from cuts to pensioner support wasn’t born from compassion. It was a reaction to growing dissent among MPs, public backlash, and dire warnings from the doorstep. That it took such pressure to force a reversal says everything about the current political moment: performative leadership reacting to crises of its own making, not principled governance led by a clear moral compass.
Let’s be clear: cutting support for the most vulnerable should never have been Labour policy in the first place. Targeting pensioners – many of whom are already struggling through the cost of living crisis – was not only economically short-sighted but morally indefensible. It undermined the principle of universality, a cornerstone of the post-war welfare state. Winter fuel payments, for instance, are not some optional luxury; they are a lifeline. Tampering with this support betrays the trust of millions who have contributed to society and now find themselves teetering on the brink of poverty.
The potential U-turn is welcome, but it also raises an urgent question: what other unjust policies are being quietly tolerated until they become too politically toxic to maintain? If the Labour leadership now acknowledges the importance of universal support, then that logic must apply elsewhere.
The same principle should apply to the two-child benefit cap – a policy introduced by the Tories, and now shamefully retained by Labour. If universality matters for older people, it must also matter for children born into poverty. Otherwise, this is not leadership guided by values; it is political opportunism dressed up as pragmatism.
Starmer’s continued refusal to commit to scrapping the two-child cap is a glaring contradiction to his professed concern for fairness and unity. This cruel and regressive policy pushes 109 more children in poverty every day, as per CPAG analysis. Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has reiterated his own calls this week for the government to drop two-child cap, emphasising that this would be by far the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty. As such, there is no compassionate justification for maintaining it. Nor can Labour continue to dodge responsibility on broader welfare reform. If we are serious about tackling inequality, it must begin with rebuilding a welfare state that protects everyone – not one that pits one vulnerable group against another.
The recent proposals to cut disability benefits underline this disturbing trend. There is no fairness in scapegoating disabled people under the guise of cost-saving. Labour's willingness to float or entertain such proposals signals a chilling detachment from the lived realities of those who rely on this support not out of choice, but necessity. It reflects a worldview more comfortable with managing poverty than eradicating it.
Instead of balancing the books on the backs of the poor, a government serious about fairness and equality would tackle the root of economic injustice. That means confronting wealth inequality head-on. A progressive wealth tax, clamping down on private profiteering in public services, and ensuring corporations pay their fair share – this is how we fund a just society. Not by shaving pennies from people’s heating allowances or squeezing the pockets of those too ill to work.
The lesson here is stark but simple: public pressure works. But it should never take backlash to do the right thing. Campaigners, community groups, and trade unions are too often forced into rearguard actions to defend the bare minimum. That must change. We need a government with the courage to lead on principle, not trail behind public opinion.
Keir Starmer once promised to restore trust in politics. But trust is earned by consistency, not divisive mantras or reactive reversals. If he is truly committed to rebuilding a fairer, more united country, then his policies must match his rhetoric. That means rejecting austerity in all its forms, scrapping punitive welfare policies, and embracing universality as a guiding principle.
Until then, many will continue to feel like strangers in their own land – not because of their neighbours, but because of a political class that no longer sees them.
Kim Johnson is the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside.
