Starmer is halfway through his first 100 days – here’s what’s left to do

Sir Keir Starmer has now been Prime Minister for 53 days, surpassing Liz Truss’s short tenure.

His first 50 days in office have already seen riots and unrest across Britain, following the Southport stabbings, an escalation of tensions in the Middle East and questions about cronyism in the new Labour government.

And with the Commons returning from summer recess next week, Starmer faces fresh challenges in the coming months, including rows over winter fuel payments for pensioners and decisions about what to include in Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ first budget.

The party is clear that it will not solve many of the country’s problems in its first 100 days, but ahead of the election it did outline six “steps for change” that it wanted to focus on immediately if the party won the general election.

Strengthening workers’ rights

The only promise in Labour’s manifesto that the party explicitly stated it would deliver within its first 100 days in power was to enact legislation to strengthen workers’ rights.

The Speech from the Throne confirmed that a new Employment Rights Bill would be put before the House of Commons, which would introduce “a new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and improve employment rights”.

The pledge has been the subject of controversy, with reports that Labour considered watering down its promises under pressure from businesses, but backed down after pressure from unions.

However, it remains unclear what will be in the legislation and how the new restrictions will work in practice for businesses, but the changes are expected to include a ‘right to switch off’ for workers, a ban on zero-hours contracts and stronger employment rights from day one of a new job.

This legislation was not introduced in the Commons in the few weeks after the election, but is expected to be put to MPs after the summer recess. Finalising the precise details of the legislation and satisfying both businesses and unions will be the next challenge facing Labour.

Restoring the economy

Labour had promised to deliver ‘economic stability’ as one of its six initial commitments, but the road to delivering this economic stability is expected to be a long one.

In a speech on Tuesday, Starmer will warn that “things in the UK are going to get worse” before they get better and that there are no quick fixes to repair what he calls “the rubble and ruin” left by the Conservatives.

The Chancellor has also accused the Conservatives of leaving a £22 billion black hole in this year’s budget, with Starmer expected to say tomorrow that the “Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was unaware of this”.

To bring about economic stability, Labour had promised to introduce “tough spending rules” to rein in the government and avoid the confusion that followed Liz Truss’s controversial mini-budget.

Legislation underpinning the new budget rules, called the Budget Responsibility Bill, was tabled ahead of the House of Commons summer session and is expected to be passed before Reeves’ first budget on October 30.

But the task of delivering an improved economy is expected to take much longer, and the finance minister will face “difficult decisions” in her first budget statement.

Fixing the Asylum System

One of the biggest issues in the general election was immigration, and immigration played a major role in the campaigns of both the Conservatives and Reform UK.

Labour, which was highly critical of the previous government’s handling of the issue, has pledged to tackle illegal immigration by establishing a Border Security Command staffed by “hundreds of new specialist investigators, officers and prosecutors”.

Days after the election, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that the recruitment campaign for the new body, which had been officially established, had now begun.

“Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions off small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. We can’t continue like this. We must tackle the root of the problem, go after these dangerous criminals and bring them to justice,” she said.

“Work is underway to appoint a Border Protection Commander to lead this work and we will immediately begin recruiting additional capacity within the National Crime Agency.”

But the problem remains acute. New figures released by the Home Office this week show that more than 19,000 migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats so far in 2024.

GB Energy settings

Another bill introduced by Labour in the weeks after the election was the Great British Energy Bill, which established the government’s promised state-owned energy company.

The party claims that this new company will ultimately save every household around £300 on their energy bills and create 650,000 new jobs through investment in green energy sources.

However, the party has not been clear on how GB Energy will save consumers money. The issue has become particularly relevant after Ofgem announced that the price cap will rise by £149 in October.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband blamed the Conservatives for rising energy prices this autumn because they were not investing in renewables. However, the opposition believes Labour should focus on cheaper, non-renewable sources to reduce energy bills.

The real test for Labour in the coming weeks will be what progress they can make in setting up GB Energy and how quickly they can deliver on the promises of lower energy bills.

Tackling antisocial behaviour

Labour also promised a “tough approach to anti-social behaviour”, which the party said would be achieved by “an end to wasteful contracts, tougher sentences for offenders and a new network of youth centres”.

However, locking up people guilty of antisocial behaviour could become a problem due to the extreme overcrowding of British prisons.

An emergency plan to prevent overcrowding in prisons has been put into effect in the north of England, with hundreds of rioters charged with offences related to the unrest of the past few weeks.

Operation Early Dawn is a long-standing plan to lock up suspects in police cells and only have them appear before a police court if there is room in the prison.

The maximum prison capacity in England and Wales is 89,200, but recent government data suggests there are currently 87,900 people in prison, raising concerns about overcrowding.

Labour is expected to reduce prison sentences for women, as well as other measures to tackle overcrowding. But without significant measures to increase capacity, the government may struggle to take the measures it wants to take against antisocial behaviour.