;Five reasons why Keir Starmer has been a far worse Prime Minister than Liz Truss’ | Politics | News

These days, the best way to establish yourself in the social circles of the Westminster family was to snub Liz Truss. Not sure how to break the ice at a drinks reception? Remind me of your mockery of the former Prime Minister who only burned brightly and was outdone by a lettuce.

But perhaps a more obvious target of Westminster’s mockery will soon emerge: Sir Keir Starmer. Entering the corridors of power after a series of commitments that cast him as anti-Truss, Starmer would be the adult in the Government, a stable couple who would see us through.

Instead, we are faced with a soft radicalism that slowly and quietly tears things apart. His policies so far have punished work, targeted purpose, and replaced belief with obedience. It’s time to drop the polite fiction that Starmer is safe. He is not the smiling face of decline, a man tearing apart the fabric of Britain not through ideology or incompetence but through slow, bloodless bureaucracy. Here are five reasons why Keir Starmer may have done more damage in office than Liz Truss managed in her short weeks behind the wheel.

Family Farm Tax

Few policies better reveal Starmer’s tone of voice towards rural Britain than his naked attempts to collapse and uproot its economy. The new inheritance tax on family farms hits ordinary families trying to keep the countryside alive for generations, not wealthy land barons with Leftist imaginations.

These are not oligarchs hiding behind trusts, but people working 80 hours a week for little or no reward. By treating land as spoils rather than inheritance, Starmer is destroying the backbone of rural Britain, which nourishes the country and cares for its land.

Whatever her faults, Liz Truss understood that the countryside was the living heart of the British economy, not a museum of urban guilt. Starmer sees this as just another thing to tax.

Winter Fuel Payments Fiasco

We have little understanding of the coldness of the Starmer administration, such as its gross mismanagement of the Winter Fuel Payments. Retirees who had carefully budgeted suddenly found themselves at risk of being left out and forced to choose between heating and eating in the name of “support targeting”.

The Prime Minister, who promised mercy, instead created confusion. Britain’s elderly, many of whom endured rationing followed by strikes and lockdowns, were treated as “means-tested” entries in spreadsheets, out of sight. This was a penny pinching policy that saved nothing and cost trust. Truss may have spooked the markets; Starmer cooled the houses.

VAT in Private Schools

VAT on Private Education, one of the most ridiculous policies put forward by this Government, is little more than a tax disguised as a virtue. Starmer and his government have persistently claimed to be funding equality by imposing VAT on private schools, but in practice they are taxing aspirations and increasingly burdening a state education system that cannot afford change.

Thousands of parents who sacrificed to keep their children out of the overstretched state sector will now pay twice for education: once in taxes, the other in fees. In fact, the policy is predicted to cost more than it will deliver, driving small independent schools to the wall and pushing their students back into an already collapsing system. Starmer’s Britain doesn’t want you to climb the stairs, it wants to remove the steps. Trus believed that people should at least be allowed to stand.

Chagos Treaty

In his haste to prove that Britain is truly a “post-imperial” state, Starmer has expended huge amounts of energy (and cash) on selling off one of our last overseas territories, the Chagos Islands, in a deal that betrays British sovereignty and the rights of the islanders and exposes taxpayers to huge amounts of costs.

A handover to Mauritius may play well in the diplomatic halls, but it sends a dangerous signal: that Britain’s word is negotiable and its allies are expendable. The Chagossians, who have been struggling for decades to return to their homes, were little consulted.

A government that cannot defend the rights of its citizens abroad will soon forget how to defend them at home. Truss made mistakes in policy; Starmer does these things in principle.

Lord Alli Scandal

The Prime Minister, who promised to “clean up politics”, soon found himself in the swamp he promised to drain.

The Lord Alli scandal came with a faint whiff of cronyism, lobbying and quiet influence, and exposed Starmer’s pious façade for what it really was: hypocrisy in a sober suit. His response was a purely administrative evasion.

Turns out the “integrity and accountability” party is just as dirty as the rest, only more boring. Truss’s downfall resulted from the conviction being pursued too quickly. Starmer’s illness may be due to cowardice pursued for too long.

Liz Truss failed by moving too much and too fast. Keir Starmer is failing very carefully by not doing anything good. It was believed that Britain could be brave again; the other believes it should be made commonplace.

Truss may have crashed the car, but Starmer is pumping the gas, selling the tires and congratulating himself for not going too close to the speed limit. Under his rule, Britain was in danger of chaos; below that there was a risk of stroke.

Although chaos can be repaired, paralysis can last forever.

Britain deserves better than administrative mediocrity. It deserves courage, faith and a leader who still believes that this country can stand on its own feet.