Keir Starmer enters 2026 determined to have a better year than the one just passed. Fully aware his job is on the line and rivals are circling, he has a new communications strategy and a new focus: the cost of living.
In the first cabinet of the new year, Starmer told colleagues that making life affordable will “remain our focus” whatever is happening around the world, attempting to return attention back to his domestic priorities before he returns to the international stage in Paris later today.
At a rare political cabinet – where officials leave the room – the Prime Minister said his government will be judged at the next general on whether “people feel better off”.
“That will require hard work, focus and determination from all of us,” he said in a call for unity. “Together, as a team, we will rise to that challenge and deliver for the whole country.”
“Our challenge for this year is to prove that politics can deliver. Nowhere is this more important than it comes to putting more money in people’s pockets.”
Starmer is the least popular prime minister since polling began. No 10 is determined to change that, and has discovered that voters have a vastly more positive impression of him personally when they hear him talking about the party’s policy on breakfast clubs, and on the cost of living in general. The government has other priorities – notably tackling illegal migration – but it has decided that Shabana Mahmood should front that one up, while Starmer stays firmly focused on affordability and opportunities for young people.
He will do that in formats that suit his less exuberant style: more long-form interviews, such as podcasts, more direct engagement with voters via Substack and TikTok, and greater engagement with internet influencers, all as part of a revived communications strategy led by Tim Allan, the No 10 director of communications who deputised for Alastair Campbell under Tony Blair.
At cabinet, Starmer highlighted policies that we will hear a lot about in the next few months ahead of May’s crucial local and devolved elections: the first rail fare freeze in 30 years and an increase to the National Living Wage, as well as interest rate cuts that are bringing down mortgage repayment costs.
As polling this morning shows Labour fall behind even the Conservatives, the mood remains bleak in Labour quarters ahead of May. Even some sitting around the table with Starmer are sceptical that the Prime Minister’s newfound focus will be enough to turn things around. But he is determined to maintain a laser-like focus on the cost of living, even as turbulence overseas pulls him away.
[Further reading: It’s official: Labour is now in third place]
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