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Keir Starmer Won’t Just Enact a Radical Progressive Agenda. He’ll Change the Constitution to Make it Irreversible

Don't be fooled by Keir Starmer's boring exterior, says Andy Collingwood. He has a revolutionary programme for government and intends to gerrymander the constitution to make it irreversible. You have been warned.

11 min read

If elected on July 4th, Labour will embark on a programme of radical constitutional reform and social engineering. Contrary to the received wisdom that Sir Keir Starmer is a bland centrist who seeks only to effect marginal adjustments to the British state while largely maintaining the status quo, his Labour Government will seek not only to transform Britain, but to make any reversal of this transformation functionally impossible.

Given opinion polls have for months shown that Labour is on course to secure a large majority in the House of Commons, it’s surprising that more attention hasn’t been paid to what this would mean in reality. It is especially shocking that social conservatives aren’t more obviously concerned.

It is true that economic and financial reality will leave no room for the sort of spending spree many Labour members no doubt wish for. In fact, it’s more likely that Rachel Reeves will have to engage in serious austerity once resident in Number 11. Sovereign debt is near 100% of GDP, and the 2023/24 fiscal deficit was 4.4%. Worse, Britain is not in recession, suggesting this large deficit is structural, not cyclical.

For this reason, the Institute of Fiscal Studies recently reported that Britain’s fiscal outlook was the worst it’s been in 70 years. It said that the next Chancellor would be “miraculously lucky” if growth bounced back enough to save the Treasury. Broadly speaking, therefore, Labour will be left with three options. First, cut spending. Second, raise taxes. Third, borrow

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45 Comments
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adamcollyer
adamcollyer
2 years ago

Right to point out the likely direction of the forthcoming Labour government.

We should remember however that parliament will still be sovereign. Any law this Labour government makes can be unmade by a future government.

The Fake Tories who have been in power for 14 years have mesmerised us with this tat about how Blair has tied their hands and they can’t change anything. The necessary condition for setting the country back on the right path is “simply” a determined right-of-centre party committed to undo the forthcoming Labour reforms.

The Conservatives obviously won’t provide that, but someone else will.

Ultimately our democracy depends on the will of the people. If the people don’t want democracy any more, then we won’t have it. But if they do, then we will.

evilhippo
evilhippo
2 years ago

The idea the Tories “didn’t know” the Blair constitutional changes made conservatism impossible already is daft. There was no attempt to roll back what Blair did. There truly is a Uniparty ConLab blob & UK requires nothing less than a counterrevolution, the prerequisite of which is the ‘Conservative’ Party (as currently understood) needs to burn to ash, to literally end, and for it to be replaced with an actual small-c conservative party.

The Real Engineer
The Real Engineer
2 years ago
Reply to  evilhippo

Nigel Farage is trying to do just that. Vote Reform, it is all that is left to save Britain.

RTSC
RTSC
2 years ago

if we are to believe Andrew Collingwood, it has taken the Treacherous Tories 10 years to realise that their policies were being blocked by Blair’s Constitutional wrecking-ball.

That’s not borne out by the facts. Cameron/Osborne knew full well what Blair had implemented and they supported it. They aped “The Master” – there was no attempt to roll-back Blair’s legislative destruction.

A “One Nation” Not-a-Conservative-Party is no different to Blair’s Labour. They are, as Galloway so eloquently put it “two cheeks of the same arse.”

No Government can bind a successor one. If the successor one has the intention and the balls to make significant changes, it can be done.

There’s only one man and one Party which seems to have both the intention and the balls.

Phil Warner
Phil Warner
2 years ago

Lenin also made his constitution irreversible.

Hester
Hester
2 years ago

If anyone has seen the original Witches film, the Roald Dahl story, this photo of Blair reminds me of how the Witches looked when they divested themselves of their disguises. If I recall from the story, the Witches hated humans too.

RW
RW
2 years ago

If Khant’s London is a model for a future Britain under a Labour government, all of Britain will be filled with posters detailling various kind of sexual harassment in future, just like anything-TfL is already today. Judging from the existing TfL-posters, pretty much everything is sexual harassment or can be construed to be sexual harassment, provided it involves both a man and a woman. Apparently, people are not supposed to think of anything else when in public.

stewart
stewart
2 years ago

I don’t get this.

I keep reading how a constitution that enshrines the right to freedom and liberty and free speech is pointless because those rights are only as good as the legal system to enforce it. In other words the law makers and the courts. And so our system of common law and sovereign parliament are the best guarantor of individual free rights.

But then I reas that Labour are about to enshrine a whole other set of rights, which aren’t rights at all but privileges or handouts, and it’s going to be irreversible

So when it’s free speech and personal freedom, it can’t be done but when it’s protection from climate change and poverty, that’s forever and irreversible.

Ok.

Ron Smith
Ron Smith
2 years ago

Mark Steyn talks on similar lines about the wrecking of the US constitution and the release of Julian Assange:https://www.steynonline.com/14397/a-judges-republic

JXB
JXB
2 years ago

“If elected on July 4th, Labour will embark on a programme of radical constitutional reform and social engineering.”

It did that in 1945 which is why we are where we are. Years of conditioning has prevented people from understanding individuality is subordinate to the collective, we are de facto a Socialist collective, indentured to the welfare State.

Whatever Sir Kneel does can indeed be reversed, with pitchforks.

sskinner
sskinner
2 years ago
Reply to  JXB

I hope it’s possible without pitchforks, but…
“We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield”
G. Orwell

The Real Engineer
The Real Engineer
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

I very much hope that Starmer doesn’t try any of this as he will rerun a version of the French Revolution, but the rich (lets call them the middle class) will mostly up sticks and leave. There will be massive violence and destruction, and Britain will be a third world country in more than name. He may try to stop capital movements which will instantly cause massive inflation, and destruction of the state, because there will be no tax to pay. If Blair tries to become unelected PM, possibly by making him “Lord Blair”, I wouldn’t give him a month to live, there are far too many ex-services who would love to shoot him after his “wars”!

sskinner
sskinner
2 years ago

“He’ll Change the Constitution to Make it Irreversible”Is that so? The only things that are irreversible are things that happen in the real physical world, volcanoes, earthquakes deaths. All things that exist in the mind or on paper are all changeable.

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

“All things that exist in the mind or on paper are all changeable.”

Exactly and a point I have made several times.

The Pandemic Preparedness Treaty and International Health Regulations are cases in point – legally binding? G T F!

john1T
john1T
2 years ago

OT. Just in case anyone still believes that the Tories actually want to cut immigration (I know you don’t). Refugee Action, a charity that claims that the Rwanda deportation plan is “violent and racist” and an example of how the British Empire shapes government policy was given over £4.5 million in taxpayer contracts and grants last year, GB News can reveal. Is anyone surprised by this? No.

Ron Smith
Ron Smith
2 years ago
Reply to  john1T

Lib Dems say similar. I suppose they couldn’t care less about someone that gets raped by someone that has no right to be here!

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago

Sad that in general only the converted here will get to see this, and that the author feels the need to post anonymously. I post anonymously because I had a woke owner – he has gone now so I suppose I could post under my real name but it would mean I would be limited in telling anecdotes about people I know.

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

Slightly Off-T, although the wat things are headed and with Bliar in control I wouldn’t bet against it.

This is a topic Iain Davis has written about extensively and refers to as “The Theft of the Commons.” A sort of carbon credits on steroids. Basically taking all land and what it contains in to private ownership, including the very air.

https://elizabethnickson.substack.com/p/wall-streets-planned-theft-of-americas?triedRedirect=true

varmint
varmint
2 years ago

The braindead muppets that are giving these cretinous goons a massive majority and think Tories are for the Rich and Labour are for the people and workers are about as deluded as you can get and after July they are going to find out what a huge mistake they made when Miliband and Starmer rip our Industrial base to shreds by pretending to save the planet harder than every other country, and treble electric bills by covering the country in expensive unreliable wind turbines that cannot even provide base load.

jsampson45
jsampson45
2 years ago
Reply to  varmint

Is that not a good argument against democracy?

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  jsampson45

You could argue that we don’t really have democracy because we don’t have true freedom of speech, and huge state overreach. If you want to preserve democracy you need to have very limited government.

Ron Smith
Ron Smith
2 years ago

Look at the US they have the 1st Amendment so they offshored to surrogates that are the Big Tech to close down free speech on their behalf. As Steyn says, these Constitution wavers are missing the trick.

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  Ron Smith

A constitution is no panacea (the only panacea is a vigilant population, some hope) but at least it’s a point of reference, and sometimes it works. The Feds nearly lost their case regarding badgering social media platforms to censor “covid” “misinformation” – it was a 6-3 decision and they only won because the plaintiffs didn’t have standing, which in my limited understanding didn’t seem an unreasonable decision.

sskinner
sskinner
2 years ago
Reply to  jsampson45

Free men in a free society must learn not only to recognize this stealthy attack on mental integrity and fight it, but must learn also what there is inside man’s mind that makes him vulnerable to this attack, what it is that makes him, in many cases, actually long for a way out of the responsibilities that republican democracy and maturity place on him.
Joos Meerloo

A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.
Bertrand De Jouvenel 

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools
Herbert Spencer

varmint
varmint
2 years ago
Reply to  jsampson45

No———-Or as Churchill put it —“Democracy is the worst form of government….except all the rest”

Judy Watson
Judy Watson
2 years ago
Reply to  varmint

And kill the wildlife to boot.

Ally
Ally
2 years ago

I thought no Parliament could bind the hands of its successor or am I being naive? Couldn’t a subsequent Parliament repeal the laws enacted by Starmer? Labour are going to be even more unpopular very fast so I can only see them being one term.

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  Ally

Technically yes but I think undoing stuff requires political courage and political capital – you need a solid majority (which the Tories had except it they either didn’t want to use it or knew that lots of their lefty MPs would chicken out) and probably to get rid or of majorly reform the civil service. It’s just not the direction that the rich west is heading in, sadly.

RW
RW
2 years ago
Reply to  Ally

An optimist, I presume?

3
Claphamanian
Claphamanian
2 years ago

Anyone who has worked in the public sector, especially the NHS, will be familiar with how much some of these radical ideas have already been ’embraced’, all too willingly.

With the rainbow flag flying everywhere, trains striped in the rainbow colours, banks colouring their logos similarly, we are already in the Republic of Transgendia.

Those who de-banked Farage clearly didn’t think they did anything wrong. Will medical treatment be denied to anyone deemed racist? I have heard a nurse suggest this.

Hester
Hester
2 years ago
Reply to  Claphamanian

well they wanted to deny medical services to anyone who refused the killer jab, so nothing would suprise me

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

An excellent article which reinforces what I have been posting since coming to DS – the wholesale destruction of Great Britain and which yesterday’s article on private schools is just a symptom.

Now we need to consider the reasons why Labour are so intent on destroying the whole essence and fabric of Britain and Britishness. It hardly seems a stretch to conclude that this is simply preparation for the One World Government so often mentioned but generally disregarded. There are definitely no intentions to attempt to bring any sort of unity back to the peoples of these islands and if the measures outlined in the article pan out the country cannot fail to become poorer, sicker, angrier and more divided. What Labour are offering is hell on earth, an immiserated population working as slaves for a miserable and shortened lifespan designed solely to reinforce the positions of the elites. It is easy to see Bliar in the background gleefully pulling all the strings.

The Conservative Party are not just implementing a controlled destruction they are politely making way for Labour and doffing their caps as they do so – “after you sir.”

Unfortunately, my nagging doubts over the… Read more »

nige.oldfart
nige.oldfart
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

A good post. I, for one, are intending to enjoying the next seven days as I deem fit, as I have absolutely no confidence of being able to do so in the future.

So take your ID card to vote, it is the start of the identification portfolio you will have to carry and present in the future.

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  nige.oldfart

Thanks.👍

Ron Smith
Ron Smith
2 years ago
Reply to  nige.oldfart

It took a decade or so and a Court case to ditch the last ID cards post WW2.

Judy Watson
Judy Watson
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Grim indeed I am glad I live in Thailand . Yes we have our problems but nothing compared to the scale of what once was Great Britain

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Judy Watson

Thanks Judy, nice of you to post.

Hester
Hester
2 years ago
Reply to  Judy Watson

can I come live with you?

For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
2 years ago
Reply to  Judy Watson

My son has taken up residence in Bangkok because he cannot stand living in England. He can run his businesses from there as easily as from anywhere with a smartphone and laptop.

For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
2 years ago

There is no guarantee that whatever the voting contrivances introduced that Starmer will be in power let alone Labour. Ultimately people clamour for change as Labour currently seem to understand.
Who could have predicted the impact of a largely minor disease and the reliance of Brits on what a stick poked up your nose tells you (a friend today announced that their stay with their daughter has been cancelled because she has Covid!).
Who expected that we would become poorer as a result of sanctions on another state.
Pressure will eventually come for change to suit the ever increasing tide of refugees.
But before that, the lunatic push for a green nirvana will become increasingly futile and as the country becomes even poorer and vastly more uncomfortable as a consequence, the Labour position will become untenable.
Giving the vote to younger people overlooks that they want instant gratification, and if they can’t have it now, after a bit of a sulk, they will take very uncomfortable action for Mr Starmer and his successors.

CircusSpot
CircusSpot
2 years ago

Bliar & SKS are hated by the left wing Labour followers.
It is interesting that the Workers Party are listing 152 candidates for the GE and they will take votes from the Labour Party.
All they have to do is convince one Muslim leader to get a block vote of thousands.
He is also standing candidates in University towns to catch the younger pro Gaza votes & organising transport etc for them might also result in Labour losing more votes.
So all is not lost yet.

Free Lemming
Free Lemming
2 years ago

Politics, vote, politics, vote… vote, vote , vote!!!

Can you see it yet?

adamcollyer
adamcollyer
2 years ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

It seems you don’t want democracy any more. Would you prefer civil war? Really?

FerdIII
FerdIII
2 years ago

Excellent article. Thanks for the links to Brown’s manifesto, worth a read or two surely.

This programme is neither centrist nor banal: it is revolutionary. In effect, it will complete the ‘woke’ revolution that began under Blair, create a labyrinth of political and legal barriers to its reversal, and leech power away from the Commons for good measure.

Net zero (new bureaucracy to be created). Massive energy issues. Higher taxes. More open borders. Return to the German empire? The religion of Queer-Trans and the building of their churches and seminaries.

Let’s not forget the next scamdemic as well – Starmtard is fully on side with the WEF. He wanted to lock it down harder, faster, longer and go door to door with the poisons. Gas camps for the unquackcinated perhaps? 1998 UK HR act and all that (and other useless papers not worth their weight in manure).

Ron Smith
Ron Smith
2 years ago
Reply to  FerdIII

Door to door? I remember Boris talking on similar lines around Christmas 2021.

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