What does Keir Starmer really mean by ‘take back control’?

The Labour leader is hoping his brazen theft of the notorious Vote Leave slogan will appeal to red wall voters, writes Adam Forrest

Thursday 05 January 2023 21:30 GMT

The Remain-voting Labour leader again irritated anti-Brexit campaigners (PA)

Keir Starmer has been keen to outflank the Tories on law and order, bemoaning high crime rates and promising to do more to tackle antisocial behaviour, theft and burglary.

But the Labour leader carried out an audacious robbery in his big new year speech, nicking the notorious “take back control” slogan used by the Vote Leave campaign during its Brexit referendum campaign.

Starmer brazenly announced he was stealing the phrase, and pledged to introduce a “take back control” bill as the centrepiece of a Labour government’s first King’s Speech.

The Remain-voting Labour leader again irritated anti-Brexit campaigners by appealing to Leave voters, saying he “couldn’t disagree with the basic case” that they had made to him prior to the divisive referendum in 2016.

“The control people want is control of their lives and their communities,” said Starmer. “So we will embrace the ‘take back control’ message – but we will turn it from a slogan into a solution, from a catchphrase into change.”

So what exactly does he mean? Is there any substance to his plans? And is he playing a dangerous game by over-promising, after all the disappointments of Brexit?

The Labour leader is promising he will “spread control” out of Westminster if his party wins power, as part of the devolution push promised last month when Labour vowed to replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber of regional leaders.

Abolishing the old Lords is likely to prove a protracted and messy task, but Starmer is promising that a speedier “take back control” bill would hand new powers over employment support, transport, energy, housing and childcare provision to local and regional authorities.

Starmer also claimed he would give communities a new right to request powers that go beyond Labour’s devolution plans – saying it would “give communities the chance to control their economic destiny”.

Is it enough to keep Leave voters happy? Probably not. It’s hard to get excited about constitutional change when there are so many bread-and-butter economic problems – soaring energy bills, rocketing supermarket prices, rising food bank use – on the table.

Starmer acknowledged as much in his Stratford speech, saying: “If you can’t make ends meet in your family, you don’t have control. If you can find a secure job, you don’t have control.”

But he is hoping to show Brexit-backing voters in his party’s former red-wall heartlands that he understands their frustration and alienation, while continuing to promise Remain voters that he will improve on the Brexit deal struck by Boris Johnson.

On that front, Starmer promised to set out more detail soon on his plan to “make Brexit work”, after Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy said the party was considering ways to align the UK with EU laws in more areas than just veterinary standards and security.

Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of spouting “platitudes” at a time of crisis. But the Labour leader has a lot of work to do to make sure he cannot be accused of the same thing.

Yours,