Labour Party: Go Hard or Go Home 

One of the rights’ favourite campaign choruses is that Labour – and “the left” (yes, they lob them all in together) – are soft on foreign policy.  This year, this has manifested in the Conservatives lambasting their opposition for their lack of policies altogether. While it is difficult to get harder than national service Labour does need to go hard or go home this election.

Whatever side of history you are on, there’s no doubt that Britain has a role to play on the world stage, especially since Britain has usually been the villain in whatever great drama is playing out. Opinium’s latest poll gives Labour a 20-point lead over the Conservatives, and sentiment across the UK is that Starmer should start picking out curtain fabric for Number 10. He’s got his work cut out for him though, at home and abroad. Defence and foreign policy are not traditionally election-winners, but this year things may change. Since the events of October 7^th that erupted in the violence in Gaza, Labour has been engulfed by an internal battle over the Middle East leading traditional Labour voters anxious to see support for a ceasefire make its way onto the policy table. 

Just over a week ago Starmer announced that he wanted to recognise a Palestinian state as part of a peace process in Gaza. Old news. A two-state solution has long been part of what we call “British foreign policy”, and governments throughout Europe – including our own – have agreed to a two-state solution in principle as part of a broader peace process. Labour missed a knockout punch here. 

Sunak has already made himself the enemy of young people, that much was made clear to him during a visit to my home county of Devon last week when he was confronted on the matter by a student – hats off to Henry Hassell. Starmer can take up the mantle of young people and rally votes to Labour by joining young people against the violent oppression of the Palestinian people taking place in Gaza. Young people have shaped the lens through which the west views the war in Gaza, and have rallied against it through marches, encampments and putting being chronically online to good use. Those same people have lost faith in democracy and are too young to remember a time when it was reasonable to believe that politics could benefit them; which is why they favour the protest to the ballot box. Pledging full support for not just a two-state solution in Gaza, but outspoken opposition to genocide, may bring young voters back to the ballot box in favour of Labour. Going hard on its foreign policy and for a conflict resolution in the Middle East would strengthen Labour’s already gigantic lead over the Tories – one that has led the Greens to accept a Labour landslide and turn their campaign into making sure that Labour has some credible opposition. And, we owe it to young people. 

The pandemic has meant that those who are voting for the first time this general election – sorry, “genny lec” – have had their lives and education disrupted to such an extent that many of my peers often say “pandemic years don’t count”. Also, interest on student loans currently stands much higher than most mortgages, and definitely higher than cohorts gone before. So, we really owe it to young people this election. Yes, broad, sweeping promises to build affordable homes and give us young folk a hand up onto the property ladder have been made by Labour, but as I’ve already mentioned: young people have lost faith in policy promises and traditional politics. 

Sunak has already made himself the enemy of young people, that much was made clear to him during a visit to my home county of Devon last week when he was confronted on the matter by a student – hats off to Henry Hassell.

Of course, I’d welcome rate cuts and a more accessible property market, and there are definitiely practical measures both parties and many of our institutions can take to restore faith in the democratic process. However, joining young people’s moral cause – not just a political one – against genocide in Gaza and the Middle East would make Starmer the friend of those who are either considering tactical voting or abstaining from casting their vote altogether.  

So, forget unfulfilled policy promises and intentionally vague political statements, it’s time for Labour to go hard or go home for young people.  
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Archie Rankin is a fellow at the Sixteenth Council