Starmer House of Lords U-turn apparent with plans for peerages

  • Post last modified:June 24, 2024
  • Reading time:13 mins read


It’s just over a week away from polling day. So naturally, slimy Starmer has just enough time to squeeze in another galling U-turn before taking power. The award for ditching any final pretence of a commitment to  democracy, goes to the Labour Party, for stitching everything up nicely in the House of Lords.

Specifically, it has admitted its plans to stack the unelected chamber with a bunch of its former MPs, including some who look set to lose their seats at the upcoming election.

Of course, it has everything to do with redressing gender imbalance in the unelected house, and nothing at all to do with rewarding its donors and Labour careerists.

Starmer House of Lords U-turn ahead

The Labour leader’s man of the working people act has been wearing thin. His dad was a toolmaker, but he’s become the willing instrument of the corporate capitalists oppressing the working class. See: party packed with business lobbyists, billionaire backers, and flush with donations from vested capitalist interests.

Now the mask has well and truly slipped. Labour’s ostensible mantra throughout the election has been, if you can’t beat the Tories, become them. And with its latest shitshow, it’s once again doing just that.

On Sunday 23 June, the Guardian carried the news that Labour intends to stack the House of Lords with new peers, within weeks of taking power. Notably, it said that:

The list of planned Labour appointments is closely guarded, but insiders believe there could be about 30 in the first few weeks of a Starmer government. These are likely to come in multiple lists, starting with a dissolution honours list of retiring MPs and then lists of working peers and ministers.

Understandably, social media was abuzz with criticism for Labour’s shameless angling for unelected power. Notably, people were once again appalled by what is yet another blatant, brazen U-turn.

If it seems like only yesterday the Labour leader had promised to abolish this vestige of aristocratic power, that’s because it kind of was:

Although, why break a habit of a lifetime – in fact, far longer than the UK’s average lifespan. We’ve only been waiting for Labour to follow through on this for 114 years:

Labour’s “intersectional aristocracy” in the Starmer House of Lords

People weren’t buying Starmer’s gender balance bollocks. In particular, many couldn’t help but scoff at the barefaced representation ploy:

In other words, a few more rich, likely white women imperialists and capitalists will do wonders for people marginalised by the political establishment. For those at the back: representation is not the same as liberation. Some on X expressed this in light on Starmer’s U-turn on the child benefit cap:

Because in reality, it’s about balancing the books – that is, shoring up the support of the party’s billionaire backers. Invariably, a Tory tried-and-tested method for this is the unelected chamber of cronies:

Shoring up its power to pass neoliberal legislation

One person on X suggested it probably has something to do with Labour’s grab for unfettered power:

In other words, Labour simply can’t entertain the idea of barriers to its corporate capitalist agenda:

And by barriers, we mean other parties and independent MPs holding them to curtailing its majority. Already, the party has been pushing the nonsense line that a vote for anyone but them, will let the Tories back in. Thankfully, people on X have been calling this out for the shameless bullshit it is:

One soon-to-be unelected peer has been bleating on her soapbox with this very propaganda:

The signs were all there…

Of course, the signs of the duplicitous Labour leader’s betrayal on this pledge have been glaringly obvious for a while now too.

That’s because, for over a year, the Labour leader has been public about the party’s plans to swell its numbers in the chamber. At this point, Starmer was still doggedly claiming this would be a temporary measure, on the road to abolition.

Then, in October 2023, there were media murmurings about Starmer’s team watering down this commitment.

The party’s recent manifesto offered lukewarm platitudes to reform the house. Most notably, it made no mention of abolishing it, as some on X noted at the time:

It’s almost as if Labour is scared of democracy. Not that you could possibly know this from anything the party has done in the last few months. Not a single thing comes to mind, except for:

  • Purging its minority and leftwing candidates and parachuting in its pro-Israel and business-favourable plants.
  • A gazillion other U-turns on previous pledges Starmer made during the internal leadership election.
  • Numerous candidates dodging hustings, including Labour’s pro-NHS privatisation candidate standing against Corbyn in Islington North:

So, the Starmer House of Lords U-turn is not really that surprising. A neoliberal rightwing grifter like Starmer was never going to usher in genuine democratic reform. Not when the system is serving his party quite well. At the end of the day, it’s the most obsequiously efficient way for Labour to hand power to its corporate paymasters.

After 4 July, we’re getting Tory cronyism mark two – feat red ties and more corrupt politicians.

Feature image via UK Parliament – YouTube





Source link

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,