We are commanded to pray for those in authority over us, in order that we may live peaceable lives, but we now have a radical government, voted in by just one-third of us, that is promising to “change” our nation.
Former Brighton councillor Christina Summers analyses the key issues of concern to Bible believers
There are three things about our fledgling Government of which we can be certain.
Firstly, Labour or not, it is now ideologically the same as any other party (arguably save Reform). Party labels are almost meaningless now, so listen to Jesus instead, who insists “you will know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:16).
Secondly, the UK electorate did not choose them – far from it. Starmer’s party won the smallest popular vote share of any majority government in UK history – 33.7 per cent – yet gained 63 per cent of seats in the Commons. This gap between vote share and seats gained is the most disproportionate on record.
Thirdly, a revealing study by Politico highlights 27 (and counting) key U-turns in Starmer’s spell as opposition leader, so we should not expect Labour to govern by conviction nor honour its manifesto promises. As The Times headlined in July: “Britain has elected the most godless parliament in its history”, with half the cabinet, including the prime minister, electing to swear allegiance to the King without the Bible. Ominous if predictable.
Here are some key issues with manifesto promises that we must be aware of and watch over.
LABOUR MANIFESTO 2024
Life and health
Abortion
No mention but Labour has championed abortion for any reason up to birth.
Will this be a free, conscience vote since it is not a manifesto issue?
‘Assisted Dying’
‘No mention in manifesto but Starmer pledged that parliament will debate and vote on changing assisted dying laws if Labour won the election.Will this also be a free, conscience vote?
Covid/Pandemics
Will appoint a fixed-term Covid Corruption Commissioner to recoup public money lost in pandemic-related fraud and from contracts which have not delivered.
Labour will respond to the findings of the Covid-19 Inquiry.
States that the Covid-19 pandemic showed “how a strong mission-driven industrial strategy, Involving government partnering with industry and academia, could turn the tide on a pandemic”. Since this is the approach the Government will employ for any subsequent pandemics, we need clarity if it refers just to vaccines or to the whole pandemic experience.
Identity
‘Conversion Therapy’
A draft Conversion Practices Bill will introduce new restrictions on “abusive” practices intended to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gender Dysphoria
Will implement recommendations from the Cass Review but make crimes against LGBT+ people an aggravating factor in law.
Safety
Law enforcement Crack down on antisocial behaviour with more neighbourhood police.
Tough new penalties for offenders, yet post-election it announced plans to release unspecified prisoners once 40 per cent of their sentence is served.
Border security/
Immigration
Promises to reduce net migration.
Will set up a new Border Security Command to “smash criminal boat gangs”, end asylum hotels, and fast-track removals to safe countries for people who “do not have the right to stay here”.
Family
Marriage
No mention of traditional marriage or family but Labour has shown clear support for same-sex marriage. The whole emphasis for family is economic but no mention of supporting mums at home through the tax system.
Education
Will levy VAT on private school fees to fund 6,500 more state school teachers.
Will ensure schools address ‘misogyny’ and teach young people about healthy relationships and consent.
Foreign policy/Religion
Israel/Palestinian Territories
Committed to recognising a Palestinian state. Emphasis on Gaza ceasefire before release of hostages. Advocates two-state solution.
Islam
Will introduce a Race Equality Act to include an all-party parliamentary group to determine a definition of ‘islamophobia’, ie as a form of racism
Starmer’s U-turns mean we should not expect Labour to govern by conviction
Sir Keir Starmer, speaking at the World Economic Forum, the place he prefers to Westminster, in January 2023, said that in order to meet “our obligations in relation to the climate crisis… we need to go towards Net Zero.” He added: “We … have set a stretch target of 2030 for clean power generation.”
This is seen as a clear reference to UN Agenda 2030, seen by some as fulfilling Bible prophecy by ushering in global governance in the name of preserving the planet.
CABINET MINISTERS to keep an eye on
Prime Minister – Keir Starmer
Failed to prosecute GPs doing gender abortions
Formerly Director of Public Prosecutions, he controversially failed to prosecute doctors accused of agreeing to terminate a pregnancy on the grounds of gender, saying it was not in the public interest to do so.
Starmer’s overall voting record is consistent with progressive positioning including so-called virtue signalling with his ‘taking the knee’ in 2020 (the symbol of Black Lives Matter), and his ongoing struggle with defining a woman because of the newly-assigned meaning of the word ‘gender’, ie that it is fluid.
He is a staunch ‘remainer’ and advocate for a second Brexit referendum, and confirmed his globalist outlook when he expressed his preference for Davos (ie the World Economic Forum) over Westminster (when interviewed by Emily Maitlis).
He did not oppose the Government over its Covid response apart from saying its measures such as lockdown should have happened sooner and that he would want to silence anti-vax voices.
Starmer continues to vacillate hopelessly between two irreconcilable demands: to uproot the historical antisemitism in his party while pandering to the growing pro-Palestine Islamic factions that, in some towns across the country, comprise ten per cent of the population.
Foreign Secretary – David Lammy
Support for Israel fluctuates, wants Gaza ceasefire before hostage release
Very shaky and inconsistent on the Hamas/Israel issue since the 7 October massacre.
In November he said: “Hamas’s stated aim is to wipe Israel off the map. They committed the most brutal attack on Jews since the holocaust and now they are using innocent Palestinians as human shields. I would like to register my shock that not every Member of this House can say this truth: Hamas are terrorists.”
By April 2024 Lammy expressed “serious concerns about a breach in international humanitarian law” over Israel’s response, saying “far too many people have died”. He also said to Sky News: “My judgement is if we get a ceasefire, more hostages will be released. That’s the first thing, and more aid will get into Gaza to alleviate the famine that’s now taken over”.
Then in May, after the ICC prosecutor requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant (Defence Minister), Lammy said he would comply with such warrants and has done so in his first week in office, overturning the objection raised by Sunak’s government that had restrained the ICC.
Health Minister – Wes Streeting
Facilitates abortion, keen on Covid restrictions
Voted in favour of abortion for any reason up to birth (13 March 2017), of making DIY abortions permanent, and for censorship (‘buffer’) zones outside abortion clinics, outlawing prayer and consensual communication between the public and women seeking abortion.
Genuinely conflicted on assisted dying having voted in favour of the 2015 bill.Suggested citizens’ assemblies could propose new laws on such tricky issues but no mention of assemblies in manifesto. His growing reticence to push for law change appears to have taken an about-turn under the influence of Esther Rantzen, the new assisted dying champion.
Voted consistently in favour of all Covid restrictions imposed so need to watch his stance on any subsequent ‘pandemics’ – will he be another Matt Hancock?
Women and Equalities Minister – Anneliese Dodds
Progressive (aka ‘woke’) equalities warrior
As a former (very pro-EU) MEP with an Oxford constituency, her roots are undeniably ‘progressive’. She has said that the definition of a woman depends on the context; ie she differentiates between biological and legal definitions (only one of which is, of course, mutable).
Voted consistently for gay rights including same-sex marriage and for race equality, so watch out for Labour’s manifesto promise to introduce a Race Equality Act covering equal pay, protections and “other racial inequalities”.
Women’s rights campaigners, Sex Matters, fear her equalities (rather than scientific) approach to ‘conversion therapy’ will be harmful.
She supports transgender people being able to declare their own gender.
Education Secretary – Bridget Phillipson
Progressive idealist who may back parents’ rights
She appears to be the author of imposing VAT on private schools to fund 6,500 more state school teachers, and of a big childcare reform, starting with free breakfasts in all primary schools. This may seem a noble motivation but we must keep a watch on this, given the continual progressive move to undermine parental authority and traditional family order, and her consistent voting in favour of same-sex marriage and gay rights.
No commitment yet to keeping the new sex education guidance for schools that bans the teaching of gender ideology and limits sex education to nine-year-olds and above.
She maintains that “families come in different shapes and sizes” but also that parents must see what their children are being taught, and be involved in their education.
Chancellor of the Exchequer – Rachel Reeves
Ambitious churchgoer facing taxing issues
Her voting on tax issues is mixed; she is against raising the threshold at which people have to pay income tax, but in favour of raising the tax rate on income over £150,000. Not a great champion of so-called working people’, then.
Her focus is economic growth for which she believes that the role and contribution of women in the workforce is vital. As a former Bank of England economist, she sought to demonstrate to other women that there should be no limits to their ambition, which has led to her being the first woman to occupy No 11.
This sets off familiar warning bells about undermining the traditional family, so it is unlikely she will be proposing tax breaks for married couples anytime soon.
Identifies as a practising Christian.
Home Secretary – Yvette Cooper
Soft on immigration, keen on surveillance and storing data
Curiously, she has voted against a stricter asylum system and stronger laws and enforcement of immigration rules, rather contradicting manifesto promises! She has also consistently voted against making it easier to remove someone’s British citizenship which has implications for the Islamist presence already here.
Another concern is surveillance; she has voted in favour of mass surveillance and retention of information about people’s communications and activities.
So there appears to be an inconsistency between Cooper’s own positioning and the Government’s official position with respect to our borders and internally, as well as a failure to acknowledge or tackle the already clear and present dangers among the Islamist groupings.
Deputy Prime Minister – Angela Rayner
Hardline on terrorism, soft on Palestine
After a meteoric rise to power in just ten years, beginning as a trade union representative, Rayner identifies as “soft left” and, with a modest academic record, famously speaks in the vernacular attracting significant support from Labour’s voter base.
She is hard-line on law and order and has reportedly said “Shoot your terrorists and ask questions second.” As a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East she has generally sided against Israel, but has stopped short of calling for a clear ceasefire in Gaza and of accusing Israel of genocide, infuriating Muslims here.
In May she courted the Muslim vote promising to recognise Palestine as a state – a likely reaction to losing the Rochdale seat to de facto Muslim George Galloway in a by-election.
But appeasement measures proved inadequate as five independent candidates won traditional Labour seats in July on clear pro-Palestine tickets, endorsed by pressure group The Muslim Vote, that emerged last December in response to the Gaza war.
Lord Chancellor & Justice Secretary – Shabana Mahmood
Devout Muslim who votes for abortion and gay rights
Mahmoud is one of the first female Muslim MPs who is open about her devotion to Islam: “My faith is the centre point of my life and it drives me to public service, it drives me in the way that I live my life and I see my life.”
However, her voting pattern is typically Labour, even on the sensitive issues of abortion and gay rights which are entirely at odds with her religion.
Her constituency comprises 41 per cent adult Muslims, so the backlash against her following Starmer’s faltering position on the Gaza war has been severe. She has taken part in pro-Palestine marches.
She says her priority as Justice Secretary is both relieving our overcrowded prisons and building new ones.
REGIONAL RESULTS
Miliband’s ‘economic suicide’
New green measures “threaten national and food security”
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader who lost the 2015 election, declared war on fossil fuels in his first week in office by saying that no new licences would be issued for future oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, as well as cancelling plans for a new coalmine in Cumbria, although that was mired in controversy.
(credit creativecommons.org-licenses-by3.0)
“Many of the rare metals for electric motors and batteries are sourced from China”
According to energy journalist Michael Young, cancelling drilling licences is “economic and technical suicide”.
Young says: “Our dash to reach Net Zero by 2050 is playing into the hands of China, which is showing increasing belligerence on the world stage, since many of the rare metals needed for the electric motors and batteries are sourced from that country.”
“It’s also extremely dangerous to rely on the intermittent production of electricity from wind and solar sources. Such a policy is groundless idealism fighting against reality. Sooner or later all the economic and technical realities will have to be faced by the Net Zero fanatics.”
Young, a Christian, adds: “When the truth about the scientific laws which God has built into his universe are finally confronted by Net Zero advocates it will surely be, to quote the title of Al Gore’s notorious 2006 film, an ‘inconvenient truth’ indeed!”
Fears for food security as Miliband pushes through Britain’s biggest solar farm
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been accused of endangering the nation’s food security after bulldozing through objections to give the go ahead for Britain’s biggest solar farm on green land.
“He’s listening to Just Stop Oil more than rural communities” – Clare Coutinho, Shadow Energy Secretary
The scheme will see Sunnica, an energy firm, building a 2,792 – acre solar farm and energy storage infrastructure around several villages in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire with more to come in Lincolnshire.
The danger is that the fall in domestic agricultural production will compromise the nation’s food security, meaning greater dependence on food imports from abroad.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said: “It’s clear that Ed Miliband has more interest in listening to the demands of Just Stop Oil than the needs of rural communities, even going as far as to overrule an expert Examining Authority in one case.”
