Political positions of Keir Starmer

This article summarises the views and voting record of Keir Starmer, who has been Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom since 4 April 2020. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras from 2015 to 2024, and was previously Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013. His politics have been described as unclear and "hard to define".

The term Starmerism has been coined to refer to Starmer's political ideology and his supporters have been called Starmerites. When he was elected as Labour leader, Starmer was widely believed to belong to the soft left of the Labour Party. However, he has since moved to the political centre-ground. Following the 2023 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Starmer was concluded by most analysts to have moved to the right of the party, and had demoted and marginalised those on the soft left, replacing them with Blairites.

Starmerism

Keir Starmer's politics have been described as unclear and "hard to define". The term Starmerism has been coined to refer to Starmer's political ideology and his supporters have been called Starmerites. In June 2023, Starmer gave an interview to Time where he was asked to define Starmerism:

Recognizing that our economy needs to be fixed. Recognizing that [solving] climate change isn't just an obligation; it's the single biggest opportunity that we've got for our country going forward. Recognizing that public services need to be reformed, that every child and every place should have the best opportunities and that we need a safe environment, safe streets, et cetera.

In April 2023, Starmer gave an interview to The Economist on defining Starmerism. In this interview, two main strands of Starmerism were identified. The first strand focused on a critique of the British state for being too ineffective and over-centralised. The answer to this critique was to base governance on five main missions to be followed over two terms of government; these missions would determine all government policy. The second strand was the adherence to an economic policy of "modern supply-side economics" based on expanding economic productivity by increasing participation in the labour market, mitigating the impact of Brexit and simplifying the construction planning process.

Relationship to socialism

Starmer wrote articles for the magazines Socialist Alternatives and Socialist Lawyer as a young man in the 1980s and 1990s. In July 1986, Starmer wrote in the first issue of Socialist Alternatives that trade unions should have had control over the "industry and community". He wrote in Socialist Lawyer that "Karl Marx was, of course, right" in saying it was pointless to believe a change of society could only be achieved by arguing about fundamental rights.

Gavin Millar, a former legal colleague of Starmer, has described his politics as "red-green", a characterisation Starmer has agreed with. In a January 2020 interview, Starmer described himself as a socialist, and stated in an opinion piece published by The Guardian the same month that his advocacy of socialism is motivated by "a burning desire to tackle inequality and injustice".

In an interview with the i's Francis Elliott in December 2021, Starmer refused to characterise himself as a socialist, asking "What does that mean?" He added: "The Labour Party is a party that believes that we get the best from each other when we come together, collectively, and ensure that you know, we give people both opportunity and support as they needed."

In 2023, Starmer removed the ten socialism-based pledges that he had made in the 2020 party leadership contest from his website, after having abandoned or rolled back on many of these, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic situation as reasons for having to "adapt". However, in the run-up to the 2024 general election, Starmer told the BBC "I would describe myself as a socialist. I describe myself as a progressive. I'd describe myself as somebody who always puts the country first and party second".

Domestic issues

Reform of public institutions

Keir Starmer campaigning during the 2020 Labour Party leadership election on a left-wing platform; he has since moved to the political centre-ground

Starmer has repeatedly emphasised the reform of public institutions (against a so-called tax and spend approach), localism, and devolution. He has pledged to abolish the House of Lords, which he has described as "indefensible", during the first term of a Labour government and to replace it with a directly-elected 'Assembly of the Regions and Nations', but the details of which will be subject to public consultation. He criticised the Conservative Party for handing peerages to "cronies and donors". Upon becoming leader of the Labour Party, he tasked former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown with recommending British constitutional reforms. The report was published in 2022 and was endorsed and promoted by Starmer, and recommended the abolition of the House of Lords, extending greater powers to local councils and mayors, and deeper devolution to the countries of the United Kingdom. Labour's 2024 election manifesto Change, however, did not recommend abolition to the House of Lords, instead committing only to removal of the remaining hereditary peers from the chamber, setting a mandatory retirement age of 80, and beginning a consultation on replacing the Lords with a "more representative" body.

Public services

Starmer supports social ownership and investment in the UK's public services, including the National Health Service (NHS). During the 2020 Labour leadership election, he pledged to increase income tax for the top 5% of earners and to end corporate tax avoidance, but receded from the income tax commitment in 2023. He advocates the reversal of the Conservative Party's cuts in corporation tax and supported Labour's anti-austerity proposals under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. On social inequality, Starmer proposes "national wellbeing indicators" to measure the country's performance on health, inequality, homelessness, and the environment. He has called for an "overhaul" of the UK's Universal Credit scheme. Opposing Scottish independence and a second referendum on the subject, the Labour Party under Starmer's leadership has set up a constitutional convention to address what he describes as a belief among people across the UK that "decisions about me should be taken closer to me". Starmer is against the reunification of Ireland, having stated that he would be "very much on the side of Unionists" if there were to be a border poll.

Economy

Starmer strongly favours green policies to tackle climate change and decarbonise the British economy. He has committed to eliminate fossil fuels from the UK electricity grid by 2030, five years earlier than the Conservative government's target. In 2021, Starmer and his Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged that a Labour government would invest an extra £28 billion a year in green industries if elected; in June 2023 this was changed to £28 billion per year by the middle of their first term of government.

Immigration

In June 2024, Starmer pledged to reduce record high legal immigration to the United Kingdom, saying, "Read my lips – I will bring immigration numbers down. If you trust me with the keys to No 10, I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first." In 2023, net migration to the UK was 685,000. Starmer wanted to ban "the practices employed by businesses who exploit the migration system by illegally undercutting working conditions". He accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of "losing control" of immigration.

Education

Starmer vowed in 2021 and 2022 to strip independent schools of their VAT-exempt charitable status, a move opposed by the Independent Schools Council. During the 2020 Labour leadership election, Starmer pledged to scrap university tuition fees; he dropped this pledge in May 2023, citing a "different financial situation" following Liz Truss' premiership. Starmer instead said that he aimed to reform the tuition fee system, which he said was unfair to both students and universities. He is supportive of faith schools, and said he would not change policy on faith schools. He has ruled out extending free school meals to all primary school pupils in England, instead pledging to extend breakfast clubs including free breakfasts for every primary school in England.

Public ownership over national infrastructure

Starmer's position on public ownership over national infrastructure has changed over time. In the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, Starmer ran on a pledge to renationalise rail, mail, water, and energy back into common ownership; he dropped this pledge in July 2022 and said he would take a "pragmatic approach" to public ownership. As of September 2023, he remained committed to renationalising the railways as existing contracts expire, the creation of a publicly owned energy company, and stricter regulation of water companies. Starmer favours partnership between government and business, having said: "A political party without a clear plan for making sure businesses are successful and growing ... which doesn't want them to do well and make a profit ... has no hope of being a successful government."

Violence against women and girls

In the wake of the Murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021, Starmer called for longer sentences for rape and sexual violence. Starmer said he wants crime reduced, maintaining that "too many people do not feel safe in their streets". He has pledged to halve the rates of violence against women and girls, halve the rates of serious violent crime, halve the incidents of knife crime, increase confidence in the criminal justice system, and create a 'Charging Commission' which would be "tasked with coming up with reforms to reverse the decline in the number of offences being solved". He has also committed to placing specialist domestic violence workers in the control rooms of every police force responding to 999 calls to support victims of abuse. Starmer said the New Labour government was right to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".

Comments on Margaret Thatcher

In a Sunday Telegraph article he wrote in December 2023, Starmer praised Margaret Thatcher for having "sought to drag Britain out of its stupor", saying Thatcher had "set loose our natural entrepreneurialism" during her time as prime minister, and used Thatcher, as well as Tony Blair and Clement Attlee, as examples of how politicians can effect "meaningful change" by acting "in service of the British people, rather than dictating to them". Starmer defended his remarks on Thatcher by saying: "What I was doing at the weekend in the article I wrote for The Sunday Telegraph was distinguishing between particularly post-war leaders – those leaders, those prime ministers – who had a driving sense of purpose, ambition, a plan to deliver and those that drifted. ... So I was giving Margaret Thatcher as an example of the sort of leader who had that mission and plan. That's obviously different to saying I agree with everything that she did."

Comments on the Labour Party

Starmer has described the Labour Party as "deeply patriotic" and credits its most successful leaders, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and Tony Blair, for policies "rooted in the everyday concerns of working people". Starmer advocates a government based on "security, prosperity and respect". In a speech on 13 May 2023, Starmer stated that,

Don't mistake me, the very best of progressive politics is found in our determination to push Britain forward. A hunger, an ambition, that we can seize the opportunities of tomorrow and make them work for working people. But this ambition must never become unmoored from working people's need for stability, for order, security. The Conservative Party can no longer claim to be conservative. It conserves nothing we value — not our rivers and seas, not our NHS or BBC, not our families, not our nation. We must understand there are precious things – in our way of life, in our environment, in our communities – that it is our responsibility to protect and preserve and to pass on to future generations. If that sounds conservative, then let me tell you: I don't care.

— Keir Starmer

Other

Starmer favors Britain's current first-past-the-post voting system and opposes proposals for electoral reform, such as the adoption of proportional representation. He has been criticised for his attitude to the issue of Britain's voting system, including by former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonell, who accused him of acting like a monarch.

After confirming he would not scrap the two-child benefit cap, Starmer was criticised by many within his own party.

In 2005, Starmer stated that "I got made a Queen's Counsel, which is odd since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy".

Foreign affairs

Starmer marched and authored legal opinions against the Iraq War, stating in 2015 that he believed that the war was "not lawful under international law because there was no UN resolution expressly authorising it."

Starmer has advocated an end to "illegal wars" and a review of UK arms exports.

During his leadership campaign, Starmer pledged to create a Prevention of Military Intervention Act, which would only permit lawful military action with the support of the House of Commons.

Starmer called for sanctions against Chinese officials who have been involved in human rights abuses.

Starmer criticised Johnson in 2022 for approving of major UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia used in the Saudi military campaign in Yemen, which intensified the humanitarian crisis in that country.

EU and Brexit

Starmer supported the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign in the 2016 European Union membership referendum and, as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, advocated a second Brexit referendum after the UK withdrawal from the EU. In 2021 he ruled out a return to free movement with the EU or substantial renegotiation of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement if Labour won the 2024 general election. In 2023, Starmer wrote in the Daily Express that "Britain's future is outside the EU" and he would not take the UK back into the EU or into the single market, customs union, or return to freedom of movement. However, he has called for much closer economic, diplomatic, and military collaboration between the UK and EU, and would seek to revisit the Brexit deal negotiated and implemented by Boris Johnson.

United States

Starmer meets with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference, February 2024

Starmer condemned the Donald Trump administration's assassination of General Qasem Soleimani; Starmer said the world needed to "engage, not isolate" Iran and called upon "all sides ... to de-escalate tensions and prevent further conflict."

During the U.S.'s transition from the presidency of Donald Trump to that of Joe Biden in January 2021, Starmer said: "I'm anti-Trump but I'm pro-American. And I'm incredibly optimistic about the new relationship we can build with President Biden." He argued that "Britain is at its strongest" when it is "the bridge between the US and the rest of Europe."

Starmer supports maintaining the UK's nuclear arsenal as a nuclear deterrent, and voted for renewal of the Trident programme; he supports the general post-Cold War British policy of a gradual reduction in nuclear stockpiles.

Russia and Ukraine

Main article: United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Starmer met with Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg and said in an interview with the BBC that Corbyn was "wrong" to be a critic of NATO and that the Labour Party's commitment to NATO was "unshakeable"; he added that "stand united in the UK ... Whatever challenges we have with the government, when it comes to Russian aggression we stand together."

Starmer called for "widespread and hard-hitting" economic sanctions against Russia. He also criticised the Stop the War Coalition in an op-ed for The Guardian, writing that the group's members were "not benign voices for peace" but rather "[a]t best they are naive, at worst they actively give succour to authoritarian leaders" such as Russian President Vladimir Putin "who directly threaten democracies."

In February 2023 he met Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, and pledged support for Ukraine during the Russian invasion of the country; Starmer stated that if he became prime minister, there would be no change in Britain's position on the war in Ukraine. He also called for Russian leaders, including Putin, to be tried at The Hague for crimes against humanity. Starmer supported the International Criminal Court's issuance of an arrest warrant for Putin, after he was indicted in the ICC.

Israel and Palestine

Main article: United Kingdom and the Israel-Hamas war

In 2021, Starmer said that Israel "must respect international law" and called on the Israeli government to work with Palestinian leaders to de-escalate the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Starmer opposes Israeli settlements, proposals for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, and "the eviction of Palestinians" in the Israeli-occupied territories; he also opposes the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Starmer also has expressed support for the creation of an "inverse OPEC" to promote renewable energy. He has rejected the contention that Israel is an apartheid state. During a June 2023 meeting with Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom head Husam Zomlot, Starmer recommitted the Labour Party to the recognition of a Palestinian state if it wins the 2024 general election. In January 2024, Starmer said that a future Labour government would recognize a State of Palestine as part of a multi-national peace process, rather than extending recognition immediately or unilaterally; this confirmed a recommendations from the party's policy forum in October 2023.

After the 7 October attacks which began the Israel–Hamas war, Starmer expressed support for Israel, condemned Hamas terrorism, and said, "This action by Hamas does nothing for Palestinians. And Israel must always have the right to defend her people." In an interview with LBC on 11 October 2023, Starmer was asked whether it would be appropriate for Israel to totally cut off power and water supplies to the Gaza Strip, with Starmer replying that "I think that Israel does have that right" and that "obviously everything should be done within international law". On 20 October, Starmer said that he only meant that Israel had the right to defend itself. Starmer had said that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas for future attacks, instead calling for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to reach Gaza. In December 2023, Starmer followed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in changing his stance by calling for a "sustainable ceasefire" in relation to Gaza, which also came after the Foreign Secretary David Cameron's same change in position. Starmer stated his support for a "two-stage" "two-state solution". On 18 February 2024, Starmer called for a "ceasefire that lasts" and said it must "happen now", having previously refused to call for a ceasefire. In May 2024, Starmer said that "we’ll never accept equivalence between Hamas and Israel, which has its right to self-defence."