Hope isn't enough: Keir Starmer must show he can fix things

The header suggests that simply having hope is insufficient; Keir Starmer needs to demonstrate tangible solutions and prove his capability to address and resolve issues effectively. Voters are looking for concrete actions and clear evidence of his ability to lead and improve situations, rather than just relying on optimism or promises. It emphasizes the need for demonstrable leadership and problem-solving skills to gain public trust and support.

Labour's somber manifesto for a disheartened nation mirrors the sentiment that voters seek immediate action rather than lofty rhetoric.

Boston Brand Media brings you the latest news - “Look at that,” said a middle-aged woman with delight, pausing midway down the street in Great Yarmouth to nudge her friend. “Life is crap!”

She was pointing to a stall selling slogan T-shirts for five pounds, all featuring variations of the phrase: life is crap because your ex got the house, life is crap because you’re out of wine, or your own version. I heard many such complaints over three days of traveling up the east coast, where Labour targets a series of Tory-held former fishing ports and seaside resorts where life for many is far from ideal.

The blue tide is receding with a vengeance along this predominantly leave-voting coast, as frustrated Tory voters rebel against the unmet promises of lower immigration, a salvaged NHS, and a general return to glory post-Europe. Yet something else is vanishing along with it, making Labour’s task tougher: the willingness to trust grand future promises and, in some areas, the belief that better things are possible. This context helps explain the Labour manifesto Keir Starmer unveiled in Manchester on Thursday morning, devoid of razzmatazz – no drama, no surprises, just a sober warning that things won’t improve overnight even if Labour wins. A downbeat manifesto for a downbeat nation.

Starmer was preceded onstage by a young father discussing the challenges of raising two children in a cramped one-bedroom flat, and a teacher with terminal cancer who said he was voting for a better NHS he wouldn’t live to see. Starmer reiterated promises to smash smuggling gangs bringing small boats across the Channel, crack down on antisocial behavior, and not raise taxes, while admonishing those seeking “desperate gestures and gimmicks.” This manifesto is aimed at people who view politicians with suspicion and hostility – trust in politics is at an all-time low, according to new research by veteran pollster Sir John Curtice – yet still desperately need what traditionally only a Labour government has provided, and are perhaps willing to make one last gamble.

For those seeking spectacle, he said, try Clacton-on-Sea – a jab at Nigel Farage’s attempt to insert himself into this Essex constituency. (Though on Tuesday night, Farage was in Great Yarmouth, addressing around 400 people at a rally in a racecourse bar. In a seat that should be winnable for Labour, Reform is snapping at its heels, a reminder that other options exist for voters if Labour disappoints.) Starmer didn’t mention the Greens, whose manifesto is reminiscent of Jeremy Corbyn and appeals to those who miss him. The message to Labour waverers considering smaller parties is clear: do you want to keep trying your luck, or opt for small, concrete promises that might actually be fulfilled?

“What we have to fight is the idea that nothing can be fixed,” Jess Asato, the Labour candidate for Lowestoft, told me earlier this week over coffee and a bacon roll in the former fishing port, now fallen on hard times. In seats like this, people want the basics because even that would be a step up from their current situation.

Asato grew up nearby in challenging circumstances, caring for her grandmother; she’s now contesting the new seat created from the old Waveney one, where the Tories previously had a majority of over 18,000, but which is no longer safe.

Promises in the manifesto to ban the sale of sugary energy drinks to children and offer 700,000 more dental appointments might seem minor, but they make sense here: Asato is shocked by the number of people she’s met who have lost all their teeth. “It’s widespread, across all classes – even those who can afford it can’t find a private dentist. I’ve met people who’ve pulled their own teeth out.” Like Lincolnshire to the north, Suffolk lacks sufficient dentists or GPs to meet local needs. The manifesto’s pledge to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy – the age people reach before chronic illness – between rich and poor could be transformative in coastal towns like this, which have some of the worst health outcomes in the country.

Further down the coast, in the rapidly gentrifying Kent seaside towns where Labour also hopes to gain seats, the pledge to build 1.5m more homes is likely to resonate. Priced-out young Londoners have bought houses by the sea here, but with gentrification comes housing pressure. Private renters are being squeezed out by landlords turning to Airbnb while locals in their thirties, still living in their childhood homes, grow resentful of newcomers.

Polly Billington, a former adviser to Ed Miliband, is running in Tory-held East Thanet, which ranges from genteel Broadstairs to arty Margate, with its colorful boutiques and seaside cocktail bars. But the core of this constituency remains older, white, working-class voters living precariously.

A few streets from the seafront, families live in deep deprivation, “utterly ground down, mums doing three jobs, can’t get childcare,” Billington told me this week. When she asks what worries people most, “People just sigh, lean against the doorframe, and say ‘everything’.” For some, it’s the cost of living or GP access, but she’s also asked regularly what she’ll do to stop the boats – a persistent issue along the coast. The harmful myth these candidates face is that there’d be plenty of GPs or affordable flats if there were fewer immigrants: if they don’t see change quickly under a Labour government, these sentiments may grow.

Before my trip up this coast, I thought Labour’s campaign needed more hope. For the confident middle classes, perhaps that’s true. But what’s lacking in many of Labour’s former heartlands isn’t hope: it’s faith, the belief that politics won’t fail them again. Starmer’s manifesto may be seen as playing it safe, but it’s a different gamble: betting on generating economic growth quickly enough to deliver on promises and restore belief.

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Source: the guardian‍