If Labour’s goal is to become the most hated government in living memory, they’re certainly on the right track. And given the fiasco surrounding the demise of the last Tory government, that’s saying something.
Since coming to power in July, Labour has become like the Grim Reaper – rolling out policy after policy primed to cause misery and despair. And no one is safe.
First, they introduced VAT on public school fees. It was an incredible stunt, not least because even the most socialist governments in Europe would never dream of taxing education. But that didn’t dissuade Starmer’s Brat Pack, who made the flawed argument that parents were getting a “tax break” for choosing to send their children to public schools.
Hang on a moment. Even though parents already contribute to state schools through their taxes, and their child being privately educated unburdens the already under-resourced state sector, the Government somehow remains unconvinced. This policy, which disproportionately impacts children with special needs who benefit from smaller class sizes, will generate a maximum of £1.6billion in tax.
It’s a measly sum in the grand scheme of things. Remember, last year’s education spending was £116billion. And if enough privately educated students move to the state sector, it will end up costing the Government more than it generates in taxes.
But this was only the first of Labour’s blunders.
Next, Rachel Reeves decided to means-test Winter Fuel Payments to pensioners, essentially scrapping the support for millions of vulnerable older folk across the country who spend most of their income on bills. The Chancellor cited necessary savings of £1.4billion and the disproportionate state handouts pensioners received compared with the rest of the population.
This argument would hold water if the Government didn’t spend millions of pounds a day to house migrants illegally crossing the Channel. That alone costs the country £4.7billion a year! Surely if the Government is that strapped for cash, binning asylum support would be a logical place to start?
Not for Ms Reeves. Even the argument that many well-off pensioners don’t need the Winter Fuel Payments would make sense if the Government had targeted them alone. But they didn’t. There are roughly 250,000 pensioners who pay the higher rate of tax, a tiny proportion of the UK’s total 12 million pensioners. To deprive millions of financial support to block 2% of wealthy seniors from receiving an unnecessary benefit is cruel and ludicrous. It lacks basic reasoning.
A sensible government would have taken a more targeted approach to wasteful spending. But we don’t have a sensible government. So instead they took a sledgehammer to the country, indiscriminately targeting people who are barely getting by.
Then the final nail in the coffin came during this month’s Budget, when Rachel Reeves decided to tax farmers after fiddling with the agricultural and business property relief. From April 2026, these changes will subject assets above £1million to a 20% inheritance tax, meaning thousands of farmers will have to start paying death duties.
Many farmers, already squeezed by small profit margins and increased production costs, have naturally been incensed by this policy change. Official figures differ about exactly how many farms will be impacted by this. But it is quite telling that the Chancellor didn’t carry out an impact assessment before launching this tax raid on farmers.
And to add insult to injury, the Government has caused all of this upset in order to save £219million. That’s it. That’s enough money to fund their precious NHS for a day-and-a-half. Are these meagre savings worth Labour expending so much political capital in record time?
You’d think not, yet Labour seems intent on picking fights with everyone. Not because they are brilliant strategic actors trying to bring Britain back from decline, but because they’re a horde of student activists cosplaying as serious politicians. That’s the crux of the issue. We are being led down a path of misery by ideologues who can’t see the bigger picture.
Will the country look back four years from now grateful that we are poorer than that at the start of this government? Of course not. But more worryingly, is there even light at the end of the tunnel? Labour doesn’t talk of aspiration, economic growth, higher living standards, or even restoring public services to adequate levels. Many in my generation are fleeing to Dubai and Australia because they can’t see things getting any better.
And to top it all off, the Government’s credibility sinks lower every day, mired in freebie scandals, dodgy CVs, and anti-free speech legislation. Labour must know that if they keep going down this path, they will never recover electorally. They don’t seem to care.
