Labour’s landslide in Chester shows voters have an appetite for change
The party’s impressive by-election result suggests a risk-averse strategy from Keir Starmer now would be a mistake.
ByKeir Starmer
Keir Rodney Starmer is a Labour Party politician who became Prime Minister on 5 July 2024. He has been MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015 and leader of Labour since April 2020. Starmer, born in 1962, studied law at the University of Leeds and Oxford, then became a barrister specialising in human rights. In 2008 he was appointed director of public prosecutions, for a five-year term. Find news, comment, and analysis about him here.
PMQs: Rishi Sunak on the ropes over tax breaks for private schools
Keir Starmer forced the Prime Minister to defend the charitable status of schools such as Winchester College, which charges £45,000…
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Letter of the week: Transatlantic cousins
Write to letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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Andy Burnham burnishes his brand on Labour’s left
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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How long can Rishi Sunak hold on to No 10?
Divided parties don’t win elections – and, as Sunak is discovering, they cannot effectively govern either.
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Keir Starmer’s mildly authoritarian streak chimes perfectly with these troubled times
Unlike the right, the left is comfortable using state power – and government intervention is exactly what Britain needs.
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Why the Daily Mail’s defence of private schools doesn’t add up
Removing charitable status from private schools won’t lose Labour money – or voters.
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Is David Miliband planning a political comeback?
Keir Starmer might not be able to afford to have such an explicitly pro-EU figure in his top team.
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Rishi Sunak needs more than a good tone to beat Labour
The government has made the right noises on Europe and strikes, but that won’t hide it’s lack of substance for…
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What the hysteria over migration figures misses
The Tory party and Labour are caught in a panic – but immigrants are the bedrock of our economy and…
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Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have capitulated to the Brexit zealots
The public now believes that the UK was wrong to leave the EU – but the Conservatives and Labour are…
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A low-tax Labour Party would destroy the Conservatives
Keir Starmer’s plan to cut taxes leaves the Tories with nowhere to go.
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PMQs: The SNP’s defiant Ian Blackford takes centre stage
“The very idea that the United Kingdom is a voluntary union of nations is now dead and buried,” cried the…
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Keeping quiet on Brexit is a shrewd move for Labour now, but a strategic disaster in the long term
What is the opposition’s thinking about Britain’s place in the world?
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Return of Brexit talks gives Labour an opening
The party can’t alienate Leave voters, but it can attack the government for its deal harming the economy.
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Starmer critic beats “right-wing purge” to narrowly win reselection
The incumbent MP Ian Byrne’s victory in Liverpool West Derby is good news for the Labour left.
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How will Labour respond to Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement?
The opposition's central argument on the economy is that the government has failed to stimulate economic growth and the UK…
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Morgan McSweeney – Labour’s power broker
The Irishman has become the most influential operator in Keir Starmer’s team. But what does he really want?
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Almost half of UK offshore wind is owned by foreign governments
A mere 0.03 per cent of offshore wind is owned by British public entities.
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Labour can win by telling a better story about climate action
The opposition must focus on economic resilience and stay out of “loss and damage” culture wars.
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