The Tories' standing was so parlous that simply standing as "not the Tories" was enough to win seats, but the whole Labour campaign was based on the "ming vase strategy":
It refers to the way that the man who is on the verge of being prime minister, and his chancellor to be, Rachel Reeves, are being so depressingly cautious in their electoral commitments that many natural Labour voters are asking themselves: what is the point?
It was about not handing the Tories and the media any minor victories that could have rocked the boat as Labour sailed toward electoral success.
As those of us on the UK left know only too well, it's not the first time Labour has run on a platform of not changing much in terms of the basis on which the Tories governed, just managing matters better. So far, Labour has failed to even accomplish that very sparse aim, and is pursuing a course of at best austerity-lite, at worst, full-blooded austerity, which plagued the Tories in office.
The major issue that underlies all others is Reeves' dogged determination to abide by stringent fiscal rules Labour adopted as its own and to avoid taxing the rich to the extent that many in the country would approve of. To make up budgetary shortfalls, Labour chose instead to kick off its time in office by placing further burdens on those who're already struggling.
For instance, the failure to raise lower-band tax threshholds means that those receiving any more than the state pension - the lowest in Europe - with earnings from any income source other than a private pension if they have one, now face having to submit tax returns when they didn't need to in the past. A person on the maximum state pension currently receives £11,973 per year, the individual allowance before income tax begins to be levied is £12,570 at the moment, and above that, they start paying tax starting at a rate of 19%. The state pension is increased year by year under a system called "
the triple lock". If Reeves (or her successor) refuses to increase the individual tax allowance, it will be only a matter of time before those on the maximum state pension are liable to tax on any amount exceeding the allowance.
Labour's early term has been littered with missteps like this - many not only morally indefensible, but politically cloth-eared. The radical change that many in the electorate felt was necessary - even if they were hazy on the details, except they wanted to feel a bit better off - has been absent. And as a result, Reform UK has benefited enormously in polling, because it majors in hazy policies and solutions, and victimizing outgroups - which some in the labour leadership have come perilously and shamefully close to doing themselves - and is quite sanguine about promising more that it could ever deliver.
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