The Labour Party are out of their Depth

After being in office for well over half a year, it’s safe to say that Keir Starmer and his possé haven’t gotten off to the best of starts. The economy has hardly grown at all, millions of households across the UK face rising energy costs - thanks to Ed Miliband and his ill-conceived net-zero policies - more public spending announcements, more regulation and no action on immigration; yet the Labour Party continue to be in denial over their purely quixotic, non-result generating government. This lack of direction and accountability isn’t just limited to domestic policy—it extends to foreign affairs as well. Nowhere is this more evident than in David Lammy’s handling of Britain’s overseas territories and international relations.

Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has proposed to give away the Chagos Islands that will cost the UK several billions of pounds. Furthermore, he has repeatedly stated his intent to open slavery reparation talks with Caribbean nations. So to get this straight, Labour wants to take your non-slave funded money away, and give it to non-enslaved people. This is all while complaining about the £22bn pound ‘black hole’ that was left for them by the Tories. 

Then there’s the case of Ed Miliband, the non-energy Secretary, who can’t seem to understand the basic economics of energy. Miliband, who seems completely infatuated with the idea of an economy completely devoid of carbon dioxide (even though we all breathe it out), wants to make sure that we as a nation generate energy in a completely sustainable way. This will make the country less well-off and less energy secure which even the Bank of England have recognised. 

One of Miliband’s most coercive policies has come recently: as of Friday, landlords will have to upgrade all privately-rented homes to be up to energy standards that will exact superfluous costs onto home-owners. Research from The National Residential Landlords Association suggests that solid wall insulation can cost more than £20,000, especially in homes built without cavity walls; the regulation as a whole will incur a cost upon landlords of £9,000 to meet the new EPC standards, government figures show. Who has that kind of money knocking around? This is quite literally the epitome and realisation of crowding out and with it, the Labour party will reduce private housing by more and more each year, subsequently pushing house prices up.

As for his ludicrous energy targets, even if the UK hits them, they won’t make a difference globally, for three reasons: A. because the UK is responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions B. instead of producing greenhouse gas-emitting energy domestically, we import it from abroad. Over half of our natural gas comes from overseas (underseas), particularly Norway which accounts for over 80pc. And C. Many countries are actually increasing their reliance on fossil fuels such as China, India and inevitably, under Donald Trump, the USA will soon follow suit. 

But in his quest for zero-carbon, Ed has pushed energy prices up and will continue to tremendously. Compared to the rest of Europe, the UK has some of the highest electricity prices; yet, as a country, we have the capabilities and natural wherewithal to harbour some of the cheapest prices. This is in fact, far kinder to the environment in lieu of importing it from overseas. If the government wants more people to care for the environment, they must first lift the approximately 16 million people that are in poverty in the UK, (nearly 24% of the population) out of poverty. 

Again, this blatant lack of care and disregard for the impoverished is stark from the Labour party. Starmer seems to pay a blind eye to the increasing number of economically inactive people (9.3 million) and no speeches or policies have addressed this. Just more taxes, more public spending and borrowing beyond his means. This says it all: he doesn’t seem to comprehend the level of trouble that Britain faces.

So this is Labour’s Britain folks. They try to please everyone; simultaneously pleasing very few. Unfortunately for them, the simple fact of the matter is - they can’t. Nor can any politician - it’s simply impossible. It’s during times like this that the words of Thomas Sowell ring loudest: “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” Well said Thom, well said.