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Will Labour Renew Britain and will Britain Renew Labour?
2025-10-14
Dr Jack Willoughby
Reflections on Labour Party Conference 2025
Sir Keir Starmer commenced Labour Party Conference being adjudged by a national poll as the ‘least popular Prime Minister on record’, his Party a distant second in the polls, and with his leadership position being questioned. Few Prime Ministers have entered a Party Conference in a more difficult position, and the Party’s ‘Renew Britain’ messaging aimed to get the Party’s direction back on track.
In many ways, it was difficult to tell that this was a Party that little more than a year ago had achieved the most substantial electoral swing in UK history and the largest majority of seats for two decades. The mood in the Conference Zone was relatively subdued, perhaps a consequence of the array of provocative protests outside. This was an important Conference then for reinvigorating the government’s policy platform and rekindling support from its base.
Whilst Labour’s core messaging was for ‘national renewal’, many of the fringe sessions dwelt on place-based approaches, considering the inspiration that can be taken from local solutions. As Labour’s plans for devolution take shape, local exempla will have an important role to play in shaping regional and local governance, and to avoid the need for a one-size-fits-all approach.
This focus was also a natural development from the limited appearances of Labour ministers at the fringe events themselves. Local representatives, think tanks and charities debated the issues at the heart of the Party’s core agenda, putting meat on the bones of ‘mission-driven government’. This included five sessions hosted by the University of Leicester, each one dedicated to one of the government missions.
Two major announcements for Higher Education came as a surprise, not least for an absence of direct references to wokery or mickey mouse. The return of targeted student grants and scrapping of the New Labour 50% participation target were met with thunderous approval from the Conference Hall, but to a more mixed reception from the sector, contemplating the ramifications of the international student levy in particular. As always, the devil will be in the detail, and the eagerly anticipated post-16 education white paper.
The leader’s speech sought to pitch Labour in direct contrast to Reform UK, whose immigration policy the Prime Minister defined as ‘racist’. This came after the announcement of tougher measures against Indefinite Leave to Remain, itself a reaction to the Reform UK policy seeking to scrap it altogether. The policy shift from tackling illegal to legal migration has been a stark one, not least for the apparent alternatives between what some may consider a Reform and a Reform-lite policy.
Coming out of the Conference, the Prime Minister nevertheless seems more secure within in his own Party, providing himself with more stable footing to progress with his government’s programme. The upcoming Budget may provide the nation with further food for thought, with political divisions rife across the country. With three parties holding seventy plus seats, and a fourth riding high in the polls, a hung parliament after the next general election reflecting that division, looks more and more a possibility.