Ep 40: Labour's fight to govern with Steve Richards

The Lowdown from Nick Cohen

Nick Cohen @NickCohen4 and the author and political commentator Steve Richards @steverichards14 discuss the challenges faced by the Labour government as it faces down a ferocious backlash from the radicalised right and far right, and their client media.

How can Sir Keir Starmer tackle the series of omni-crises - whether relating to the economy or public services - left by 14 years of disastrous and frequently deranged Tory government? Far right riots and trumped up stories about Starmer's gifted clothes and glasses have threatened to knock the new government off its stride. Or so the right would have us believe. The fury over the new government's planned to axe the Winter Fuel Allowance for thousands of pensioners have also sent the party into a nosedive in the polls. But how much of the current rumpus is genuine upset over Labour bungling and insensitivity and how much is rightwing tabloid-confected fury?

Nick and Steve also discuss the emerging political landscape, focusing on Keir Starmer's leadership and the potential for a more radical approach to government. Could Labour caution over issues like Europe and concern over losing voters to the Faragist and Tory populist right repel the very people who put Labour into power? Could these voters be driven into the arms of the Greens and Liberal Democrats? Labour won the election on a low turn out. How can the party now win the right to govern and lead the UK according to its own values and goals?

How can Labour achieve the growth it needs to put the country back on the road to recovery if it approaches with such apparent timidity issues such as rejoining the Customs Union and the Single Market? How can it balance the books without upsetting constituencies like pensioners who have so far reaped the benefits of Tory rule at the perceived cost of the young?

Steve is an accomplished political commentator, author and podcaster. His latest book Turning Points: Crisis and Change in Modern Britain, from 1945 to Truss is published by Macmillan and his regular podcast Rock and Roll Politics is a must listen.

Read Nick Cohen's regular and compelling Substack column Writing from London

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