The Prime Minister is lurching from U-turn to U-turn, his authority draining by the day. First came the scrapped winter fuel payment cut. Then the binned £5billion raid on disability benefits. Now, plans to hammer farmers with inheritance tax are under fire, with more than 40 Labour MPs threatening open rebellion.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s attack on wealthy “non-doms” is set to cost more in lost tax than it raises, as its intended targets flee. Meanwhile, under pressure from the Left, Starmer looks poised to scrap the two-child benefit cap, despite pledging to keep it just weeks ago.
Even Labour’s supposed immigration crackdown is faltering, with Starmer forced to apologise for branding Britain “an island of strangers”. His U-turn on grooming gangs already looks half-hearted.
Reeves, meanwhile, is losing control of the public finances and will almost certainly hike taxes again in her next Budget. Backbenchers have had enough.
After a bruising week of revolt, one senior Labour figure reportedly described the situation as “an absolute s—show.”
Talk of a leadership challenge is no longer whispered in corridors. It’s being said out loud.
Labour MPs aren’t the only ones ready to see the back of Starmer. So are voters. A new Find Out Now poll shows more than six in 10 want him gone. Barely one in four think he’ll make it to the next election.
If the rebels get their way, Starmer could soon be forced into the biggest U-turn of all. Out of Number 10.
So who’s waiting in the wings?
According to The Mail on Sunday, the answer to Labour’s mounting woes could be Angela Rayner.
The Deputy Prime Minister is quietly gathering support, with allies now openly predicting that a “gravely wounded” Starmer won’t last the year.
Rayner is said to top the list of potential successors among grassroots members and union bosses. While some prefer Andy Burnham, he’s not an MP.
Blairites like Wes Streeting don’t stand a chance as the left takes back control of the party.
Rayner insists she isn’t interested. But as one ally put it: “That’s what she would say.”
Backers want to frame Rayner as a plain-speaking, working-class antidote to Starmer’s wooden technocrat, and a streetwise challenger to Nigel Farage.
If you think things are bad now, just wait.
Rayner is determined to push through her flagship Employment Rights Bill, a union-pleasing package of radical reforms that could blow another hole in Britain’s already tattered economy.
It’s due this autumn, just as businesses are reeling from Labour’s £25billion national insurance hike, which has already cost 275,000 jobs.
That’s just for starters.
Her bill will pile on another £5billion in annual costs, with analysts warning it could destroy a further 50,000 jobs.
It scraps key trade union laws, bans zero-hour contracts, boosts redundancy rights, and lets ministers drag firms through employment tribunals, even without a formal complaint.
It’s a throwback to the 1970s, with union barons back in charge.
The Tories warn it could trigger a £1billion tax hike as shrinking profits slash corporation tax receipts.
But Labour MPs and activists will love it. They’ve dreamed of reversing Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s trade union reforms for decades. With Rayner in No.10 and a thumping majority behind her, that dream could become a dangerous reality.
We may not miss Keir Starmer. But we’ll hate what follows.
