Feniks Knows Best

Ancient wisdom applied to todays issue with a twist.log

Feniks Knows Best

Ancient wisdom applied to todays issue with a twist.log

Feniks Opiniom

Labour’s Hypocrisy Laid Bare: Preaching Austerity While Pocketing Perks and U-Turning on the Vulnerable

Feniks

I’m done with the nonsense. This Labour government swept in on a wave of “change” and “integrity,” promising to clean up Westminster sleaze and put working people first. Keir Starmer lectured us endlessly about public service and tough choices. What we’ve got now, eighteen months in, is a parade of double standards that would make even the Tories blush. They hammer the vulnerable with cuts, indulge in donor perks, then scramble with embarrassing U-turns when the public revolts. It’s not just flip-flopping—it’s rank hypocrisy, plain and simple.

The freebies scandal is the gift that keeps on giving for Labour’s critics. Starmer spent years hammering the Conservatives over “sleaze” and “partygate,” going after Boris Johnson for everything from wallpaper to lockdown breaches. Yet his own record shows he’s accepted over £100,000 in gifts and donations since becoming leader, including thousands in clothing, accommodation, and glasses from major donor Lord Waheed Alli. Angela Rayner and other cabinet members piled in with similar hospitality and tickets. All this while telling the country we’re in a fiscal “black hole” that demands sacrifice from everyone else.

Then came the winter fuel payment cut—one of Labour’s earliest and most tone-deaf moves. They stripped the £200-£300 allowance from around 10 million pensioners not on pension credit, aiming to save billions for the Treasury. Starmer and Rachel Reeves defended it fiercely as a necessary tough choice to stabilise the economy. The backlash was immediate and fierce: protests outside Parliament, rebellions from their own MPs, and polls showing public fury. By late 2025, they were forced into a partial U-turn, raising the eligibility threshold and restoring payments for millions more—at a cost of over £1 billion. Starmer later admitted the pressure made them reverse course. So much for those “tough choices” when the heat’s on.

Pubs provide another glaring example. On the campaign trail, Labour couldn’t get enough of them—Starmer, Rayner, and Reeves posing with pints, declaring pubs the “heart of our communities” and vowing support. Come Budget day, Reeves slapped landlords with hikes to employers’ National Insurance and the scrapping of business rates relief, adding thousands to bills for many. The industry erupted: publicans banning Labour MPs from their premises, warnings of mass closures, and a full-blown revolt. By January 2026, another screeching U-turn: a £300 million support package and watered-down rates changes to calm the storm.

This isn’t isolated bad luck—it’s a pattern. Labour has racked up multiple major reversals in short order: softening the inheritance tax raid on family farms after farmer protests, abandoning planned disability benefit cuts amid internal chaos, dodging the two-child benefit cap removal despite manifesto hints, and more. Commentators have counted at least seven significant policy climbdowns forced by public or backbench pressure.

Meanwhile, the bigger picture is grim. Starmer’s New Year message promised 2026 would be the year Britons “feel positive change” in their pockets. Polls tell a different story: Labour’s approval ratings in freefall, often trailing Reform UK, with voters citing broken promises on taxes, benefits, and the cost of living as key reasons.

This government isn’t renewing Britain—they’re recycling the worst habits of the elite: perks for the inner circle, pain for the public, and reversals only when cornered. How much longer will voters tolerate this two-faced approach before demanding real accountability?

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