Starmer tries to woo Tory voters but is it worth riling up Labour’s left-wing?
For a long time, the discussion around Labour’s resurgence centred on whether it could reclaim its red wall – its industrial heartlands in the north of the country that turned blue during the 2019 general election.
The latest move from Keir Starmer suggests the party has set its eyes on a bigger prize. He wants to win over Conservative voters who may never have voted Labour before – akin to what the Tories managed in 2019.
The Labour leader published an op-ed in The Sunday Telegraph (which on its own speaks volumes). He invoked the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, praising her for unlocking Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Many traditional Labour voters will disagree with that assessment.
Politics latest: Labour leader defends praising Thatcher
How will it go down in Scotland, where Labour is trying to pry seats from the SNP, or with voters in Labour’s former industrial heartlands?
For those on the left of his party, Margaret Thatcher is still a deeply unpopular figure. They will be feeling even more uncomfortable today.
With his party around 20 points ahead, some may wonder whether it’s worth riling up his own party over this. Especially as it may not work. Are people really going to switch to Labour because Sir Keir is a fan of Baroness Thatcher?
On its own, perhaps not. However, Sir Keir went further by talking tough on immigration and crime. He’s trying to create a sense of economic and community renewal and rejected the idea that immigration is a topic that should be off-limits for Labour.
In doing so, he is feasting on the Tories’ failure to deliver on their own promises, sticking the boot in by suggesting that Labour would do better to get immigration down.
It could also play well with voters on the red wall who have turned their backs on Labour, partly because they felt let down by the party’s stance on immigration.
Yet, he’s also contributing to the mainstreaming of the idea that immigration is bad. In a clear break from previous Labour teams, no one in the party’s top branch seems to be making a positive case for legal immigration.
By making this a Labour issue, Sir Keir risks falling into the same traps as the Conservatives, who are having to find ways to square the needs of the economy with public displeasure at record-high migration figures.