Keir Starmer’s 13 U-turns since entering No 10 – and why he made them
There are some people who will argue in favour of the classic political U-turn. It’s healthy to change your mind after listening to the arguments, they might say.
But there’s a reason it’s rare to hear a politician making that argument. That’s because U-turns are often more damaging than you might think.
They project weakness and a lack of clear direction. They suggest the policy was never properly thought through in the first place. They mean voters can’t be sure that what you say will happen, will actually happen.
Maybe most troublingly, you retain all the political damage – the backlash, anger and protests – without enjoying the benefits that were meant to come as a result.
Sir Keir Starmer told us that digital ID needed to be mandatory in order to clamp down on illegal working. Now, that aspect of the plan has been dropped.
It may not be the most dramatic U-turn from the government so far, but it adds to an extensive list. Here’s the rundown so far.
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National Insurance hike
Date of U-turn: October 30 2024
At Rachel Reeves’ first Budget, she raised National Insurance on employers despite the Labour manifesto counting it among the three taxes they would not put up.
Ministers pointed out that the manifesto said taxes would not rise for ‘working people’, and argued this applied to employees rather than employers.
The reasoning behind this about-turn was the much-cited ‘£22 billion in the public finances’ that Reeves said needed to be filled.
Trans women
Date of U-turn: April 22 2025
In a 2022 interview with the Times, Keir Starmer said: ‘Trans women are women, and that is not just my view — that is actually the law.’
But in April last year, the UK Supreme Court ruled that trans women should not legally be considered women in the context of the Equality Act.
The PM’s attitude appeared to change in the wake of that judgement: asked if Starmer still believes trans women are women, his spokesperson said: ‘No.’
Winter fuel payment
Date of U-turn: June 9 2025
The decision to means-test pensioners’ Winter Fuel Payment – announced less than a month after Labour won power – seems to have been a big factor in the government’s collapse in support.
We went through one winter with that new policy in effect, before Reeves altered it the following summer to mean anyone with an income below £35,000 would get the allowance.
This was the first decision to be reversed in the face of enormous public backlash – but it would not be the last.
Grooming gangs inquiry
Date of U-turn: June 14 2025
At the beginning of 2025, the government faced enormous pressure to set up a national inquiry on grooming gangs, led by a certain Elon Musk.
Instead, Sir Keir commissioned serial troubleshooter Baroness Louise Casey to run an audit on what we know about group-based child sexual abuse.
But when Casey returned with a recommendation for a national inquiry, the PM relented and promised one would be set up.
Tough talk on immigration
Date of U-turn: June 27 2025
Launching a white paper on immigration last May, Sir Keir said the UK risks becoming an ‘island of strangers’ if rules weren’t enforced.
There was swift backlash to this phrase, including from Labour MPs, with concerns it echoed a notorious anti-migrant speech by 20th century politician Enoch Powell.
Just over a month later, the PM said he ‘deeply regretted’ the phrase, adding: ‘I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as an echo of Powell.’
Cuts to welfare
Date of U-turn: July 1 2025
A monumental climbdown to round off an unenviable month for the government in the summer of 2025.
This was the biggy: significant cuts were due to be made to the Personal Independence Payment disability benefit as then-Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall tried to bring down the UK’s welfare bill.
Those efforts were ditched at the last minute, though, as dozens of Labour MPs threatened to vote against the plans.
Waspi women compensation
Date of U-turn: November 11 2025
Ministers incurred the wrath of many campaigners in December 2024, when they announced they wouldn’t give compensation to women who said they lost out when changes were made to the state pension age.
A legal challenge brought by some of those people – known as Waspi women – was due to begin in December.
However, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden announced in November the government would ‘retake’ the decision after new evidence emerged. He stressed it doesn’t mean a different conclusion will be reached.
Two-child benefit cap
Date of U-turn: November 26 2025
One of two big U-turns announced by Rachel Reeves at the Budget last year.
This one was particularly startling, as it was flaunted at the very end of her speech to draw as much attention as possible to measures combating child poverty.
In July the previous year, a group of Labour MPs lost the whip after defying the party to say the end of the cap should have been in the King’s Speech at the start of the parliament.
Where does the digital ID change leave UK's illegal working plans?
Last summer, the government decided the best way to sell digital ID to the nation was to link it with the push to combat illegal working.
Sir Keir Starmer was very clear that if you did not have digital ID, you would not be allowed to get a job in the UK.
In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, he struggled to explain why unscrupulous employers who don’t worry about doing the current legal checks would bother with these new ones.
Now the compulsory element of this specific scheme has been dropped.
But Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander made clear this morning that digital right to work checks will ultimately be made mandatory – they just won’t necessarily have to involve the new digital ID.
Meanwhile, the government is likely to lean on its raids of illegal workplaces as an another way of fighting the issue.
The Home Office boasted yesterday that those raids have ramped up by 77% since the government came to power with more than 17,400 carried out.
Income tax freeze
Date of U-turn: November 26 2025
In her first Budget on October 30 2024, Rachel Reeves said she would not freeze income tax thresholds as that would ‘hurt working people’.
At her second over a year later, she announced she’d be doing exactly that.
Critics call it a ‘stealth tax’, as the frozen thresholds will capture more rising incomes, but it’s expected to raise £7.6 billion for the Treasury.
Workers’ day-one rights
Date of U-turn: November 27 2025
Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is one of the flagship pieces of legislation for the government, with ministers boasting of significant improvements to workers’ rights.
One of those measures was the right to protection from unfair dismissal from day one of a new job.
But following consultation with businesses and pushback from the House of Lords, that’s now been changed – instead, the right will apply from six months.
Farm inheritance tax
Date of U-turn: December 23 2025
Farmers across the UK got an early Christmas present from the Chancellor, when she slipped out an announcement on another of her most controversial policies.
There was outcry from the agricultural community when Reeves said inheritance tax would apply to farms worth £1 million or more, with protests going on for more than a year.
Now, the threshold has been increased to £2.5 million which will mean fewer small family farms fall within it.
Pub business rates
Date of U-turn: January 8 2026
Yet another policy that prompted outrage from a popular demographic that Labour would rather not get on the wrong side of: pub landlords.
In Reeves’ November Budget, she said Covid-era business rate relief would be wound up – meaning eye-watering increases would come into effect over the next three years.
Last week, the Treasury said a new support package was on the way for pubs in England after intense pressure from business owners and MPs.
Digital ID
Date of U-turn: January 13 2026
Support for a new digital ID scheme was around 50% for Brits before it was announced by Keir Starmer – at which point it plummeted by around 20 percentage points.
Every opposition party came out against the plans, and as the government struggled to articulate exactly why it was necessary, it was the anti-digital ID crew who set the narrative.
The moves are still going ahead, but it will no longer be mandatory in order to get a job.
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