Nana Akua: With Keir Starmer’s U-turns, it’s no wonder that the country is losing confidence in his incompetent leadership
GB News
Sir Keir Starmer is facing a crushing rebellion over his welfare changes after ministers admitted it could drive 150,000 more people into poverty,
In an attempt to prevent a revolt among MPs ahead of a key vote on Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall presented revised proposals, hoping to shore up support and protect the prime minister’s fragile grip on party unity.
U-turning in the face of a growing backlash has become a recurring pattern in Starmer’s premiership.
Since sweeping to power, the Labour leader has reversed nearly a dozen decisions, from the winter fuel payment to the grooming gangs inquiry.
GB News has looked at five times the Prime Minister performed a screeching U-turn.
Recently, Starmer U-turned on his welfare reforms bill following pressure from MPs
The Prime Minister now “deeply regrets” a speech in which he warned that Britain is at risk of becoming an island of strangers if uncontrolled immigration is not urgently addressed.
In what has been dubbed “his most humiliating U-turn yet” by British-Bangladeshi author Rakib Ehsan, Starmer outlined the threat of immigration to the nation’s struggling public services and disconnected communities.
Following the speech, which the Prime Minister delivered in May, a Government spokesperson said Starmer “absolutely stands by” his language, including claims that mass immigration had done “incalculable damage” to the British economy.
However, following comparisons to Enoch Powell’s infamous 1968 “rivers of blood” speech, where Powell claimed Britain’s white population would be “strangers in their own country”, Starmer made a spectacular U-turn, claiming he should have read the speech more carefully and “held it up to the light a bit more”.
He told the Observer: “I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be, interpreted as an echo of Powell. I had no idea – and my speechwriters didn’t know either. But that particular phrase – no, it wasn’t right. I’ll give you the honest truth: I deeply regret using it.”
Two-child benefit cap
Shortly after his rise to Labour leader in 2020, the then-leader of the opposition vowed to create a social security system fit for the 21st century by lifting the two-child benefit cap brought in by the Tories in 2017.
Keir Stamer said: “We must scrap the inhuman Work Capability Assessments and private provision of disability assessments… scrap punitive sanctions, two-child limit and benefits cap.”
The Prime Minister has since tiptoed around the issue, claiming he intends to lift the cap when fiscal rules allow him to do so.
In the lead up to the 2024 General Election, which Labour went on to secure a historic win after 14 years in opposition, Starmer said Labour was “not changing” the Conservative policy if Labour were to win power.
Seven Labour MPs were suspended within weeks of last year’s general election for voting with the SNP to scrap the cap.
When directly asked about the policy more recently, the Prime Minister responded: “I would say this is a down payment on child poverty. We’ve got a taskforce that will come out with a strategy.
“I want to get to the root causes of child poverty. One of the greatest things the last Labour Government did was to drive down child poverty. I am determined we will do that.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged to reverse the cap, as he and his party continue to ride their political momentum as the main opposition to Labour.
Welfare cuts
Starmer faced pressure from 126 MPs over his welfare cuts
GETTY
Just days ago, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that his Government intend to water down its proposed cuts to Britain’s ballooning benefits bill after a growing backbencher rebellion.
The Prime Minister, who was pushing for a £5billion cut to welfare spending by slashing Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit, completed an enormous climbdown just days after dismissing 120 Labour rebels as being “noises off”.
Starmer made three major concessions to prevent the biggest rebellion of his premiership.
Liz Kendall told Labour MPs that the Government will still provide Pip unchanged for all current claimants.
Kendall added that all new claims made after November 2026 will face new eligibility requirements.
The Leicester West MP added that all existing recipients of the Universal Credit’s health element and any new claimant meeting a strict conditions criteria will also have their incomes fully protected in real terms.
A third concession centres around guaranteeing that the Government would conduct a ministerial review of the Pip assessment.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that pensioners not receiving pension credits or other means-tested benefits will be denied their winter fuel payment.
This payment cut sparked massive backlash from MPs, with shouts of “shame” when Reeves made the announcement.
After months of denying a U-turn, Starmer confirmed in May that he wants to ensure more pensioners are eligible for the payment.
It is now confirmed that nine million pensioners will be eligible for the payment, over seven million more than those who received it last winter.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who introduced the payment when he was chancellor, said Starmer was “right” to reconsider.
Brown said: “No pensioner should be forced into poverty, if they have served the country all their lives, if they can not afford heating because they don’t have the funds to do so. I think what Keir is saying is we will be fair to pensioners.”
Grooming gangs
Since entering power, Starmer has dismissed calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, deeming them unnecessary.
The Conservatives called for an inquiry in January, with MPs voting against it 364 to 111.
The Prime Minister accused those, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform leader Nigel Farage, of “jumping on the bandwagon of the far-right”.
However, following an audit into the grooming gangs scandal by Baroness Louise Casey, Starmer accepted her recommendations to hold an inquiry.
Starmer said: “She’s come to the view that there should be a national inquiry on the basis of what she’s seen. I’ve read every single word of her report, and I’m going to accept her recommendation.
“I think that’s the right thing to do, on the basis of what she has put in her audit. I asked her to do that job, to double-check on this. She’s done that job for me, and having read her report… I shall now implement her recommendation.
