It has been a turbulent first period in power for Sir Keir Starmer’s new administration but there has been some positive news for our region
If there was any phrase that feels appropriate for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government it would perhaps be ‘life comes at you fast.’ Having sailed into power after securing a thumping and historic majority in July’s general election, the new Downing Street operation has been beset by problems – many of their own making.
One of the most controversial policies from Labour came early on in their time in power when it was announced that winter fuel payments would be withdrawn for millions of pensioners. It was a move that sparked confusion and anger across the country and has dogged the new administration ever since.
While arguments can be made about whether some level of means testing could make sense for this particular payment, the reality is that there will still be poorer and vulnerable older people missing out on the cash and the optics of this for a Labour government are not good.
What made matters worse was that as this policy was being digested, Sir Keir and many of his senior cabinet team were facing difficult questions and headlines about the number of gifts they had accepted from party donors. From suits and glasses for the PM, dresses for his wife and free concert tickets for other key figures – this was a story that marred the early months of the new government and damaged their credibility as they sought to tackle the huge problems they had been left after 14 years of Conservative rule.
It has been a turbulent and tricky first six months in power for the first Labour government to hold office since 2010 and many feel there has been a remarkable level of naivety from the top team, but here in the Liverpool City Region there have been some positive moves that have made this part of the country feel a little less neglected than it did during the entirety of the Tories’ time in office. Here we take a quick look at what the new government has done for our region while analysing what we need to see come next.
Central Docks
It was just a few days after Labour’s landslide election win that Liverpool first got a big boost from the new administration. In her first speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves announced that as part of its ambitious house-building agenda, the government would launch a new taskforce aimed at developing stalled or slow-moving housing schemes across the country.
And this new project, she said, would begin in Liverpool at the city’s Central Docks where the government would look to accelerate existing plans from Peel to deliver more than 2,000 new homes. A few months later in her first budget, Ms Reeves would confirm a £56m cash injection for the project.
Hillsborough Law
This is a big one for the city of Liverpool. It was at the Labour Party conference in this city in 2022 when then opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer used his keynote speech to confirm that his government would implement a Hillsborough Law in full if elected into government.
The package of laws, which includes a legally binding duty of candour on public officials to tell the truth at major inquiries following disasters and tragedies and a parity of legal funding for the ordinary people caught up in such terrible events. The Hillsborough families had campaigned for the change in the law for many years and were relieved and pleased to see it included in Labour’s election manifesto.
Those feelings were cemented on July 17 when the King’s Speech officially introduced the Hillsborough Law to Parliament, although families and campaigners have rightly said they will continue to hold the government to account to ensure the entire package is introduced fully onto the statute books.
Devolution
For Labour Metro Mayors including Liverpool City Regio’s Steve Rotheram, any invitations to Number 10 Downing Street prior to July 2024 had apparently been lost in the post. The North is dominated by powerful Labour regional leaders but most of them had rarely felt there was much co-operation in working up their local agendas from a government of a different political persuasion.
This changed quickly after Sir Keir took the keys to Number 10, with Mayor Rotheram and his colleagues immediately invited into the corridors of power to speak to the Prime Minister and set out how they could work with the new government and help them to achieve their growth goals.
Labour had promised to focus on devolution once in power and in fairness they have done that. In December the government introduced a major English Devolution White Paper that could be the most significant development in terms of devolution for over a decade.
While much of the plan seeks to establish devolved positions in areas of the country that don’t currently have them, there was good news for our region too. The White Paper confirmed that the Liverpool City Region is in the first wave of Mayoral Combined Authorities that will receive an Integrated Settlement – a consolidated budget across housing, regeneration, local growth, local transport, skills, housing retrofit, and employment support.
Homelessness
If you ask anyone in a position of power at Liverpool City Council the areas they need help from the government in, then homelessness will always be close to the top of the agenda. The city continues to experience shocking and soaring levels of rough sleeping and the council is forking out millions to house homeless families in temporary accommodation.
Pleas for support from city leaders to the previous government were regularly ignored but we have already seen some hard cash poured into the council to start to help with the complex and expensive crisis. In December it was confirmed that Liverpool would receive £7m from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to help tackle the homelessness crisis.
No one is saying that this amount will solve what is a huge issue in the city, but leaders will at least feel that this government is starting to hear their concerns on this matter.
On the same subject, this government has made a crucial intervention in the battle to alleviate refugee homelessness, which is a major facet of Liverpool’s current problems. Labour have extended the amount of time newly registered refugees have to find housing from 28 days to 56 days. Once again it won’t solve the problem but it is an improvement that will help.
READ MORE: How do you feel about Keir Starmer’s performance this year?
