Skip to main content
Labour's rush to Thatcherism: what's going on?
SOLOMON HUGHES examines how Labour has gone from blaming Tory deregulation for our economic woes to betting the nation's future on more of it
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a visit to Premier Modular in Driffield, Humberside, January 30, 2025

WHEN Keir Starmer finally got his prime ministerial phone call with President Trump on Sunday, according to Number 10 the two “discussed trade and the economy, with the Prime Minister setting out how we are deregulating to boost growth.”

Which is odd, because the word “deregulation” isn’t in the Labour manifesto. In fact, before the election Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds argued deregulation was a Tory sin that didn’t bring growth. 

Starmer was telling Trump the truth — Labour are pressing regulators to let business do what it wants in the desperate hope they will get some “growth” to drag up their low polling. But why does Keir tell Trump the truth before British voters? 

Blue Labour 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer tours Palantir Technologies headquarters with company employees and British military personnel in Washington DC, February 27, 2025
Politics / 4 July 2026
4 July 2026

Only an ambitious programme of state-led investment can restore growth and improve living standards, argues MICHAEL BURKE

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stands next to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as he acknowledges guests during a visit to the Benn Partnership Centre, a community centre in Rugby, Warwickshire, November 27, 2025
Features / 28 November 2025
28 November 2025

The 2025 Budget shores up the PM’s political position with headline-grabbing welfare U-turns, but with no improvements on offer to declining public services or living standards, writes MICHAEL BURKE

Cartoon: Lewis
Features / 18 November 2025
18 November 2025

The collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation poses an existential threat — but do today’s politicians have the capacity to deliver the more resilient and sustainable economics of tomorrow, wonders ALAN SIMPSON

Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Reynolds
Features / 8 August 2025
8 August 2025

SOLOMON HUGHES asks whether Labour ‘engaging with decision-makers’ with scandalous records of fleecing the public is really in our interests