UK’s Labour govt led by PM Keir Starmer marks 100 days in office

Keir Starmer's Labour Party faces challenges after a landslide election win, with approval ratings dropping and economic struggles.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks 100 days in office Saturday (October 12, 2024) with little cause for celebration.

Mr. Starmer's center-left Labour Party was elected by a landslide on July 4, sweeping back to power after 14 years. But after weeks of stories about feuding, freebies and fiscal gloom, polls suggest Mr. Starmer's personal approval rating has plummeted, and Labour is only slightly more popular than a Conservative Party that was rejected by voters after years of infighting and scandal.

“You couldn't really have imagined a worse start,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. ”First impressions count, and it's going to be difficult to turn those around.” Mr. Starmer won the election on promises to banish years of turmoil and scandal under Conservative governments, get Britain's sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.

His government argues it has made a strong start: It has ended long-running strikes by doctors and railway workers, set up a publicly owned green energy firm, scrapped the Conservatives' contentious plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda and introduced bills to strengthen rights for workers and renters.

Mr. Starmer has traveled to Washington, the United Nations and European capitals as he seeks to show that “ Britain is back ” after years of inward-looking wrangling over Brexit. But the United Kingdom, like its allies, has struggled to have much impact on spiraling conflicts in the Middle East and the grinding war in Ukraine.

The new government also has faced crises at home, including days of far-right fueled anti-immigrant violence that erupted in towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland in the summer. Mr. Starmer condemned the rioters as “mindless thugs” and vowed to jail those responsible. So far, more than 800 people have appeared in court and almost 400 have gone to prison.

Mr. Starmer's most intractable problem is Britain's sluggish economy, hobbled by rising public debt and low growth of just 0.2% in August, according to official figures.