Starmer’s lost credibility will be hard to restore

Patrick Blower cartoon
Patrick Blower cartoon

The deaths of another eight migrants trying to cross the Channel from France is a further tragic demonstration of a worsening crisis. They follow the drowning of 12 people, including children, just a few weeks ago. This year has seen a big increase compared with 2023 in the numbers trying to make the perilous journey crammed on to small boats and dinghies.

It is one of the most difficult problems to confront the country and yet, when in opposition, Labour did its utmost to stymie almost everything the Conservatives did to deal with it. Now in office, Sir Keir Starmer is finding that easy criticism can come back and bite you.

His first action in No 10 was to scrap the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, a policy intended to act as a deterrent. The very act of abandoning this approach emboldened the people traffickers that Labour has pledged to “smash”. It gave the impression of a lack of serious intent which will not be negated by the appointment of ex-police chief Martin Hewitt to head a new border force.

Indeed, Sir Keir is now so concerned that he is said to be considering sending asylum seekers to Albania – seeking a similar deal to that achieved by Italy’s premier, Giorgia Meloni, with whom he is holding talks today.

Voters here will ask why sending migrants to Albania is justified while deporting them to Rwanda is so wrong. The purpose of both is to deter them from making the crossings that can lead to disaster. Does Sir Keir think if a policy is promulgated by Labour it is automatically good, whereas a similar plan put forward by the Tories is bad?

The country has already seen through this humbug. Sir Keir likes to lecture about political ethics yet he accepted money to buy clothes for himself and his wife. The issue here is not whether he declared these gifts properly but why he felt it necessary to accept them at all.

Sir Keir has a rapidly deepening credibility problem, appearing uncertain in his handling of foreign policy, changing his mind about net-zero targets for cars, having to field criticism over the early release of prisoners and taking fuel payments from pensioners while agreeing big pay rises for public sector workers.

First impressions matter in all walks of life, not least in politics. It is hard to recover credibility once it is lost and Sir Keir has managed in the space of just two months to throw his away.