On the three-year anniversary of Keir Starmer becoming Labour Leader, Adam Bienkov analyses whether he has kept to his word or broken it

Keir Starmer became Leader of the Labour Party three years ago this week. In his victory speech he promised to “bring our party together” while demonstrating that antisemitism had been “torn out” from the party by its roots.

He also committed to implementing 10 key pledges from his campaign to become Labour Leader.

But for each of those pledges, as well as his broader aims, how well or badly has he done so far?

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Economic Justice: 7/10

Starmer’s first pledge during his campaign was for a fairer tax system. He committed to increase income tax for high earners, reverse cuts to corporation tax and clamp down on tax avoidance.

So far he has stuck to his broad pledges on income and corporation tax, as well as tax avoidance.

However, last week Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was opposed to plans to raise capital gains tax and announced a review of corporate taxes, suggesting that she would support “any genuine, affordable moves in capital allowances that support business investment”. 

It remains to be seen exactly what this means. However, it does suggest that we could soon see a potential shift away from Starmer’s previous commitments on economic justice.

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Social Justice: 5/10

Starmer’s second pledge was actually a series of separate pledges grouped together under the heading of ‘social justice’.  These were to:

• Abolish universal credit
• End the Government’s sanctions regime
• Make health as important as GDP
• Invest in preventative care
• Stand up for a universal NHS
• Support abolition of tuition fees
• Invest in lifelong learning

In the intervening years, Labour has dropped its pledge to abolish universal credit and turned it into a plan to “fundamentally reform it”, with the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary saying earlier this year that “we actually agree with the concept behind Universal Credit”.

Labour’s commitment to universal healthcare does remain. However, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has caused controversy by promising to introduce more private involvement in the NHS.

One pledge that Starmer does appear to have broken, is his commitment to abolish tuition fees. A Labour spokesperson told Byline Times last year that the party only remained committed to “reforming” student fees, rather than abolishing them altogether.

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Climate Justice: 7/10

“There is no issue more important to our future than the climate emergency,” Keir Starmer told Labour Party members during his campaign, as he promised to back a “Green New Deal” and demand “international action on climate rights”.

When it comes to policy, there has been little deviation from this pledge from Starmer.

However, he did cause some controversy last year after demanding a clampdown on climate protestors, to the consternation of one such protestor who confronted him at an event in Scotland.

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Promote Peace & Human Rights: ?/10

Keir Starmer became Leader with a pledge to put “human rights at the heart of foreign policy” which he said would make Britain “a force for international peace and justice”.

He also included a pledge for a review of all UK arms sales, and a commitment for “no more illegal wars”, which he said he would back with a new ‘Prevention of Military Intervention’ Act.

Since then, we have heard relatively little from Starmer on any of these issues.

Possibly this may be partly due to the international focus on the war in Ukraine. However, there are other signs that it may also signal a shift in his position.

For instance, Starmer’s previous opposition to the Iraq War – which he labelled an “illegal war” during his campaign – has now been muted. Last month’s anniversary of the conflict came and went without a comment from the Labour Leader himself, although his spokesman did eventually confirm to Byline Times that he does still stand by his previous comments about that war. 

Overall though, it is difficult to meaningfully judge Starmer’s performance on his foreign policy pledges at this stage.

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Common Ownership: 3/10

One of the biggest U-turns Starmer has made since becoming Leader is his abandonment of his pledge during his campaign to back the nationalisation of public utilities such as rail, mail, energy and water.

While his commitment on public ownership of the railways does remain, and while he has made a separate commitment to a new publicly-owned energy company, he has clearly ditched his commitment to fully nationalise significant parts of the rest of the economy.

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Defend Migrants’ Rights: 5/10

Perhaps the biggest area of controversy during Starmer’s leadership has been his abandonment of his previous opposition to Brexit.

During his campaign Starmer pledged to “defend free movement as we leave the EU”. He has since abandoned that pledge, with his spokesman telling Byline Times last month that there would be “no return to freedom of movement, no return to the Customs Union, no return to the Single Market”.

After previously leading calls for a second referendum, Starmer has also now insisted that he will instead “make Brexit work”.

It is also debatable as to the extent to which Starmer has met his pledges to “defend migrants’ rights” and back an “immigration system based on compassion and dignity”.

While Labour is opposed to the Government’s Rwanda scheme and its plan to effectively ban most asylum claims in the UK, Labour’s opposition has focused mostly on the effectiveness of the Government’s plan, rather than upon the rights of migrants, or the overall morality of what ministers are doing.

It is likely that a Labour government would be significantly more compassionate towards migrants and refugees than Sunak’s administration, but this is not a particularly high bar to clear. Overall, this is an area where Starmer and his party could do better.

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Strengthen Workers’ Rights & Unions: 7/10

Another area where Starmer’s leadership has caused controversy is on workers’ rights. So far Labour has remained opposed to the Government’s plans to impose new restrictions on strikes and Starmer has committed to repealing any new legislation targeting unions, should he enter government.

However, his ban on shadow ministers appearing on picket lines has gone down badly with trade unions, as has his public opposition to some recent strike actions. This does appear to be a partial break of his pledge to stand “shoulder to shoulder with trade unions”.

While his reticence on strike action has angered some Labour supporters, it is arguably not massively surprising that a government-in-waiting would not explicitly back individual strikes, while still backing the right of unions to launch them. So, while the tone taken by Starmer and his front-bench will displease many in the party, the broad thrust of this pledge does appear to have been kept so far.

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Devolution of Power, Wealth & Opportunity: 8/10

One area where Labour remains committed to significant change is on devolution and constitutional reform.

Despite some briefings to the contrary, he has so far continued to commit to abolishing the House of Lords, while backing significant devolution to the regions. Of course, as with all of these pledges, we may only know the extent to which he plans to fully follow through on these, if and when he becomes Prime Minister.

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Equality: 5/10

Another area of controversy for Starmer in recent