Where No Labour Government Has Gone Before

Published date01 September 2023
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/20419058231198576a
AuthorBen Jackson
Date01 September 2023
4POLITICAL INSIGHTSEPTEMBER 2023
These are strange days for the
Labour Party. As the expectation
builds that the Conservatives will
not be able to recover from their
current unpopularity, Labour are now the
favourites to form the next government.
Yet this optimism about Labour’s electoral
prospects increasingly co-exists with
growing apprehension in the party about
how dicult an economic inheritance
the Conservatives will bequeath to their
successors.
Although history can only oer rough
analogies rather than precise conclusions,
Where No Labour
Government Has
Gone Before
Labour governments have often struggled to maintain popularity
in challenging economic circumstances. Can Keir Starmer buck the
trend by securing not just election but re-election in the face of a
dysfunctional economy? Ben Jackson investigates.
the track record of Labour in oce
suggests that party leaders and members
are right to be worried about how an
incoming Labour government will cope
with the severe economic headwinds now
bueting the British economy. Put bluntly,
there is no previous example of a Labour
government steering the country through
tough economic times and then holding
together its electoral coalition to win
another full term in oce. Whenever Labour
governments have encountered economic
turbulence, they have lost support and then
© ZUMA Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Political Insight September 2023.indd 4Political Insight September 2023.indd 414/08/2023 12:2414/08/2023 12:24

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