With the local elections round the corner and the general election rumoured for next autumn, Keir Starmer, the measured lawyer, is rebranding. Faced with criticism over attack ads on Rishi Sunak, the newly bullish Labour leader has doubled down, insisting he will continue “no matter how squeamish it might make some feel”. Those who object to the new tactics are not expressing legitimate critiques, the argument goes – they’re just too soft for the fight. As one frontbencher put it: “We have come back from Easter ready for a scrap. Yes, this is a reset and we are ready to take a few swings.”
The attack ads levelled at Sunak are grim, but he is not the only – or most worrying – target of Labour’s blows. Last week, Labour blasted benefit fraud and error, claiming the cash lost could fund extra cost of living payments. Inadvertently or not, in doing so the party played into old stereotypes of “scrounging” benefit claimants. The tactic falsely suggests the benefits system is rife with fraud, while framing benefit claimants as the reason other “deserving” people aren’t getting the support they need. It conflates fraud with innocent error, reinforcing the long-term Tory attempt to bloat the figures of benefit fraud.
