Starmer’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month that value added tax — a consumption levy — will be slashed from 20 percent to 5 percent on a range of family-friendly activities, including children’s meals, cinema tickets and amusement parks.Kids aged five to 15 will also be able to travel free on buses over August under an initiative dubbed the “Great British Summer Savings” scheme.
Effectiveness: 5/10. This is a temporary deal which ends in September just as energy bills are set to go up. Expensive retail policies aren’t always election winners, either. Just ask Rishi Sunak, architect of the last government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
4. Pointing at graphs
A plethora of positive U.K. stats should — in theory — give Starmer some momentum.
The U.K. economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of the year, and net migration fell dramatically from 331,000 in the year ending December 2024 to 171,000 last year — a level last seen in early 2021 during Covid-19.
NHS waiting list numbers — a particularly sensitive subject for Labour MPs — have dropped to their lowest level in 3.5 years, a 500,000 fall since the 2024 general election.
Effectiveness: 6/10. These are signs of progress: but graphs and stats rarely trump vibes when mutiny is in the air. Polls suggest voters are still struggling with the cost of living, think immigration is too high and are dissatisfied with the NHS — and that’s got MPs itchy.