Keir Starmer’s policies will not withstand the scrutiny of an election campaign

Labour’s programme for the next election is taking shape – but it is not ready for the voters yet, writes John Rentoul

For once, Labour has a popular policy on an issue on which it has traditionally been seen as weak (PA Wire)

The latest output of Labour’s sudden hyperactive policymaking is a plan to cut student loan payments for new graduates. Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, wrote a carefully worded article on Friday: “The government could reduce the monthly repayments for every single new graduate without adding a penny to government borrowing or general taxation,” she said.

After a long policy drought, the opposition in recent weeks has produced new policies on crime, immigration, buying land for houses and Brexit. The aim is to provide some of the detail of the broad “missions” set out for the party by Keir Starmer in February – and to have an election-ready programme in place by the party conference in October. Labour would then be in a position to fight the “long” campaign for an election the following October.

Some of the policy work now being unveiled shows some ingenuity. Phillipson’s plan to make student loans magically cheaper, for example, can work only if graduates have to repay over a longer period. It will also apply only to new graduates. When these important details sink in, the policy is hardly a vote-winner. But it gives Phillipson something to say, while at the same time insisting: “Labour will not be increasing government spending on this.”