King's Speech: is Keir Starmer being too cautious?

Labour has set out its agenda for government in today's King's Speech, putting economic growth and housing targets at the heart of its plans.

It was a speech that was always going to be "short on surprises", said Archie Bland in The Guardian, but it is the first moment for Keir Starmer to "flesh out the detail" of how he "intends to govern".

But while there are many plans laid out in the speech, as one Labour aide told Politico: "Nobody expected FDR, but after 14 years of bad policymaking and poverty on the rise, there is a feeling of 'is that it?'"

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What did the commentators say?

Today was a "huge moment" for Starmer as it marks the point when his "project in Parliament officially begins", said Laura Kuenssberg at the BBC. There was never an expectation that the plans would "include fireworks" and definitely "no rabbits out of fancy hats". This is purely because the party insist they are "grappling with the tasks government requires them to do" rather than the "options they would choose".

Starmer has "sought to make a virtue of predictability", said Bland, and his approach is in "contrast to the more pyrotechnic approach of recent Tory prime ministers". While the majority of "flagship policies" from the manifesto featured in the King's Speech, there were a number that did not "make the cut", including changes that would limit access to foreign workers and plans to lower the voting age to 16.

Laying down over 35 new bills, Starmer said the government's new programme is aimed at taking the "brakes off Britain" and providing a "foundation stone" to "rebuild". The King's Speech is being looked at as a "blueprint for the scale of his ambition", said Beth Rigby at Sky News, but it is clear that Starmer is taking a position of needing to "fix things" before he can then "look to the future" about what the government "might do next".

The prime minister's "message of change" has been "qualified with a plea for patience", Rigby added, as he tries to "buy time" by talking up the "state of the inheritance" left by the last government. However, with a "big majority and a party hungry for change", there are already "hints" of internal "pressures" for much bolder change.

The "cautious approach" does leave Starmer "open to criticism", said Esther Webber in Politico, and the lack of action on the two-child cap on benefits is a key point that a number of MPs are "expected to rebel over". The government insists though that it is trying to "advance an agenda which can actually be delivered".

What next?

Though Labour is enjoying a purple patch of popularity after the recent election, there are fears that a lack of "risk and reform" will scupper it in the long run, said Andy Haldane in the Financial Times. 

The "luck will run out, the honeymoon fade", and the "caution that propelled Labour to power" is the "opposite" of what is needed to "promote growth and improve public services". The government requires a "culture shift", he said, one that moves from "safety-ism to dynamism" and to "loosen the centralising grip" on the party.

There are some "political calculations" behind Labour's "conservative opening hand", said Webber. Starmer is hoping that if Labour can "demonstrate an ability to deliver" on policies even if they are "unambitious", it would make it an "uphill battle" for the Tories to "rebuild their reputation for competence".