The British economy has been in serious trouble, with an annual growth rate of 0.9% since the 2008 economic crash. With that in mind, how do we grow the economy and save our public services? It is a strange thing…
On 2nd May 1997, after a seismic defeat at the polls, Conservative Prime Minister John Major aptly said, “when the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage.” His defeat after six-and-a-half years in Number 10 spelt the…
You may have noticed recently that the papers and the pundits have been saying that Britain is heading back to the seventies. Although many today possess a mythologised view of the 1970s – a decade of political division and social…
One year on from his election as Labour leader, Keir Starmer faced his first test: the local elections. What was predicted to be a moderately successful evening for Labour, turned out to be one of their biggest failures in a…
This article is part of a series exploring the local and mayoral elections. Articles from the editors, as ever, reflect the editors’ personal views and not necessarily those of Backbench. Readers are invited to share their thoughts on the elections…
The Labour Party leadership has had something of an embarrassing time in the last month. With opinion polls slowly showing better performance since Keir Starmer became leader, Labour’s statistical fortunes are now faltering again and the party’s recent patriotic turn…
Today’s impending budget represents a litmus test for Keir Starmer. Decades of neoliberal orthodoxies have evaporated over a year, with a Conservative government using unprecedented powers of the state to safeguard health and economic well-being. The normal boundaries of political…
Last week in an op-ed in the Sunday Telegraph Keir Starmer claimed that Labour will be “the party of the family.” The following day, he gave a speech which mentioned the word ‘family’ or ‘families’ 17 times and framed the Government’s plans…
The Labour party have spent over a decade out of power. In the eyes of many these have been ten wasted years. When they came to power in 1997 there was a feeling that this was the party’s time to…