Keir Starmer has changed his mind yet again. This time, it’s over the winter fuel allowance for pensioners. Soon after winning the general election last July, the Government stopped nine million people claiming the payment – turning it from a benefit for all pensioners to one that’s means-tested. Cue months of angry protest, not least from the Express through our Save Winter Fuel Payments campaign.
This week the Prime Minister changed tack, telling the Commons: “We want to ensure more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.” Cue headlines in some left-leaning papers about Starmer listening to the people! Or Labour backing Britain’s pensioners! Or, as I would more cynically write: Here we go again… While listening to voters and reading the room is a good thing – refreshing, even – this isn’t his first big U-turn (SPOILER ALERT: he’s already made 13 U-turns since becoming PM).
It’s starting to feel like he’s running a focus group, not a government. You can’t knock him for responding to outrage – even if it has taken months for him to see the trees for the forest.
Pensioners are the backbone of Britain’s electorate: they vote, they organise and they don’t take kindly to having their winter heating put on the chopping block.
My father is one of those retirees who would have suffered under Starmer. Now the PM has finally felt the polling panic, foreseen the rise of Reform UK and changed course.
While that shows a leader who’s not too proud to listen, when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. One minute he’s all about tough choices, the next he’s backtracking to soften the blow.
Are Keir and the Cabinet making it up as they go along? I want our PM to have compassion, yes, but I also want conviction. Right now, Starmer’s political sat-nav seems to reroute every time an unfavourable headline drops.
Look, there’s no shame in changing your mind, if it’s done with principle. But if it starts to look like every policy you put forward is open for negotiation depending on the mood of X, you risk losing credibility.
And Nigel Farage can smell blood in the water. The leader of Reform will pounce on “flip-flop” Sir Keir and his lack of strength, his lack of gumption. Leadership isn’t just about not upsetting people.
It’s also about knowing which fights are worth having – and standing your ground when it counts. Still, at least this time, he’s listened. Let’s just hope he doesn’t need to change his mind again next week.
