Starmer`s pledges

Andy Beckett writes that the 10 radical pledges made by Keir Starmer in his Labour leadership campaign were simply made, according to his centrist admirers and leftist critics, "to win over the left-wing Labour membership", and should not be regarded as a guide to what he "would do in power" (For Starmer to change Britain, he`ll need to be less cautious, 18/12/20). Thomas Frank recently wrote in the Guardian about the need for Biden and the Democrats to "confront their own past", and "acknowledge how their own decisions over the years helped make Trumpism possible" (Now Biden must tackle the causes of Trumpism, 09/11/20). The same applies to Starmer who must remember that a preponderance of centrist policies which ignored "the grievances of blue-collar workers" cost Labour the 2010 election just as it lost the 2016 election for Clinton. It is vital that Labour does its utmost to rubbish Conservative preposterous claims to be the workers` party representing the aspirations of ordinary people, and that means those 10 pledges have to be honoured, and not simply because ignoring them would be to betray democracy. Years of shrinking the state in the UK have proved disastrous, along with unfair taxation, deregulation and rising inequality, not to mention the abundance of corruption and cronyism. Beckett rightly says that Starmer "does have a big opportunity", especially with Sunak clearly heading for a return to austerity policies, which no doubt will be as callous as Osborne`s; he must not waste it! Bernie Evans