Jo Stevens ignores Starmer’s ‘deep unpopularity’ in reaction to election defeat

Martin Shipton

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens has been strongly criticised for refusing to admit that the unpopularity of Keir Starmer was a major factor in Welsh Labour’s Senedd election defeat.

In an article published in WalesOnline, the Cardiff East MP – once a left-winger who backed CND and other left-wing causes, but now an unquestioningly loyal member of Starmer’s Cabinet – put the blame for the defeat on the outgoing Welsh Labour government.

Echoing campaign positions taken by Reform UK, Ms Stevens criticised policies like the 20mph default speed limit in urban areas, which is saving lives, and the planting of trees in Africa as part of a modest aid programme.

In her article, Ms Stevens stated: “We have a long list of proud achievements – protecting public services, introducing breakfast clubs, building new schools, and making prescriptions free. These are tangible changes that made real differences to the lives of people across Wales.

“Frustration about Welsh Government’s delivery has, though, been growing for many years. Before the pandemic, it was clear that people were running out of patience with our record on health. It felt like we were about to reach a tipping point. Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething’s mature handling of the pandemic, in contrast to Boris Johnson’s partygate scandals, afforded Welsh Labour the benefit of the doubt.

“But goodwill has a sell-by date if it isn’t backed up by delivery – and we cannot simply rely on the achievements of the past to carry us through.

“Ultimately, despite record investment, standards in our schools and the performance of our NHS just aren’t good enough. We could not convince voters that we had a credible plan to improve public services.

“Welsh Labour is at its best when it mirrors the priorities of the people of Wales. But somewhere along the way, the party became distracted by causes that were miles away from the bread-and-butter issues that people care about the most.”

‘Denying reality’

A Welsh Labour source said: “Jo Stevens’ comments illustrate the problem in a nutshell. The people like her who have risen to the top of Welsh Labour under Starmer are there because they are willing to humiliate themselves by denying reality.

“The number one issue on the doorstep during the Senedd election campaign was Starmer himself. He is hated and if Jo can’t state that fact she loses legitimacy to be part of the solution.”

Lynne Davies, formerly the political education officer for Ogmore Constituency Labour Party, who resigned from the party over its stance on Palestine, said: “I became very upset over the hypocrisy and dishonesty shown by Starmer, and his u-turns over policies that helped working class people. There was a lot of unpleasantness within the party, where it was made perfectly clear to people on the left that they weren’t wanted. There are only so many times you can put up with people telling you to piss off before you do so.

“As a member of the party I knew what was going on with an insider’s perspective, but I know that the dishonesty of Starmer and those around him got across to the general public. That’s why Labour is in such trouble now.”

Existential threat

In an article for the Guardian, Andrea Egan, the General Secretary of Unison, wrote of the existential threat to Labour because of the party’s abandonment of working class voters under Starmer: “Labour has strayed a very long way from its founding mission when it was set up by the labour movement well over a century ago: to unashamedly represent the interests of the working class and its organised industrial expressions. We can all now see the consequences: a longstanding electoral coalition in tatters, fragmented in all directions.

“This breaking apart of Labour’s base had been a gradual process, from haemorrhaging almost five million votes between 1997 and 2010 to getting the lowest vote share of any winning party in modern history at the last general election. But Starmer, seemingly taking inspiration from the open contempt for the party’s historic support base that was exemplified back in 1999 by Peter Mandelson (they have ‘nowhere else to go’), has accelerated the decline to the extent that the party is now on the brink.

“The prime minister has deliberately hollowed out the Labour party, completing its transformation from a mass social democratic party into a brittle elite club. Once a massive organisation with deep, organic links to workplaces and communities, the party is now detached from workers.

“The path from private lobbyist to Labour MP is now an established career route. Millions of progressive voters, traditional Labour supporters, have been written off as extremists, somehow beyond the pale. Workers the length and breadth of Britain have been alienated as so little has been done to really improve their lives.”

Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite the Union, posted to social media a message stating: “The writing is on the wall for this Labour government and it could be the beginning of the end of the party itself. The working class have been abandoned and have delivered their verdict.”