Opinion | Starmer’s statesmanship abroad no substitute for vision at home in Britain

Keir Starmer’s robust diplomacy masks a country struggling economically and increasingly losing faith in Britain’s two mainstream parties

Reading Time:4 minutes

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (centre left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (centre right) speak with soldiers from Operation Interflex during a meeting at Downing Street, London, on June 23. Operation Interflex is a British-led multinational military operation training and supporting Ukraine’s Armed Forces, which takes place in the UK. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:30pm, 17 Jul 2025

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Britain is a nation in slow drift, outwardly composed but inwardly unravelling. His resolute backing of Ukraine and vocal commitment to European security have restored a measure of Britain’s standing on the world stage.

However, this diplomatic poise conceals a glaring domestic void. Behind the polished speeches and choreographed handshakes lies a country buckling under stagnation. Its economic pulse is weakening, its public services are fraying and its faith in Westminster is eroding by the day.

Not long ago, Brexiteers promised prosperity and a golden future, but for millions of Britons the reality is rising poverty and shrinking opportunity. More than 14 million people in the UK, including more than 4 million children, were living in poverty in 2022-23 – that is 1 in 5 people in the country.

Britain’s economy contracted unexpectedly for a second consecutive month in May, while inflation stood at 3.4 per cent that month – up from 2 per cent a year ago and high enough to keep food prices elevated and energy bills burdensome. Household budgets were already strained by years of austerity and Brexit-induced economic dislocation, and now they are stretched to the breaking point. The cost of simply getting by has become an impossible luxury for many.

Youth unemployment reveals the crisis in even starker terms. According to the Office for National Statistics, 14.3 per cent of under-25s were out of work and actively seeking employment, more than double Germany’s youth unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent. Add rising crime rates and the public’s disapproval of the Labour government skyrocketing, and one finds a recipe for democratic disaster.

It must be said that Labour set itself up for disappointment from the outset. Its plan was to rescue the National Health Service, revolutionise public transport and modernise social care. Yet in the same breath, it pledged to keep tax levels largely unchanged. The arithmetic never worked and the cupboards, it must be said, have long been bare.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Keir Starmer’s robust diplomacy masks a country struggling economically and increasingly losing faith in Britain’s two mainstream parties

Keir Starmer’s robust diplomacy masks a country struggling economically and increasingly losing faith in Britain’s two mainstream parties