‘U-turn after U-turn makes this government look weak, rudderless and without conviction’

The occasional U-turn can provide cover to row back on an unpopular policy, whilst also making the government appear they are listening to the will of the public.

However, seven of them since taking power – with three of them over the last month – now risks making the government that said it was committed to making unpopular decisions appear weak and rudderless.

Regardless of whether you agreed with the policy on mandatory digital ID cards or not, I feel great embarrassment for ministers this morning who were forced to defend the policy yesterday (including Darren Jones at the Institute for Government conference) only for the Prime Minister to do a volte-face hours later.

You would be forgiven for getting déjà vu from Tory ministers being humiliated after defending Boris Johnson before more embarrassing details about parties or Chris Pincher came out in the press. In that instance, that farce ended with Johnson being shown the door…

Don’t get me wrong, the government is doing great work in many areas – rail fare freezes, school breakfast clubs and the scrapping of the two-child cap among them. But these constant U-turns undermine the government’s credibility and sense of conviction.

Karl Turner, who is having his own battle with the government over jury trial restrictions, captured what must be the mood among some in the PLP: “Labour MPs must think very carefully before defending policy decisions publicly. This stuff leaves us looking really stupid.”

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Ask yourself, how are repeated U-turns conducive to party unity? How can the government expect its MPs to fully get behind its policies when they could be changed seemingly on a whim?

Spare a thought for Penrith and Solway MP Markus Campbell-Savours and others in previous months who have stood firm against a policy they saw as wrong and had the whip suspended for doing so – only for Starmer to change course (in one case less than 24 hours after an MP was disciplined for opposing it).

Regardless of whether any of the U-turns, from welfare to winter fuel, were the right decision, the weakness of successive climbdowns erodes any sense that the government has any courage of its conviction.

If the polls are to be believed, the government isn’t even enjoying any benefit from making said U-turns. Just look at Wales, where the first Senedd poll of the year puts Labour fourth behind a Plaid full of momentum after their Caerphilly victory, Reform and even the Greens.

Instead, the government appears trapped in a ludicrous cycle of spending political capital defending a contentious policy, taking the hit for it, only to drop the policy with no uptick in support for doing so.

The question on my mind, and surely some of yours too, is how long will it take for Labour to break that cycle?

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