Election 2024 – The Result – I’m optimistic for a better future

So, we have a new government.  The Starmer government.

But there is still a lot of negativity around.

False extrapolation

There is a tendency among people to extrapolate:

• Your son lounges around in his room all day, and his friends appear to be lazy layabouts. Therefore ALL young people are lazy good for nothings
• Your work brings you into contact with terrible landlords who charge a fortune for disgusting premises, threatening retaliatory eviction if their tenants dare complain. Therefore, ALL landlords must be overcharging and refusing to comply with their legal obligations.
• Many millionaires and billionaires are selfish, self-entitled crooks who concentrate on moving their ill-gotten gains to wherever they will pay the least tax rather than contributing to society.  So this must be the case with ALL millionaires and billionaires

And having experienced 14 years of austerity, sleaze and poor governance from our late Troy government, this means that ALL politicians are sleazy chancers only in it for what they can get and indifferent to the woes of the working class

But this is WRONG

• As always, some young people are lazy, but most are hard-working and decent,
• Some landlords are bad or even criminal, but there are many landlords who work hard to provide decent accommodation for their tenants and who care deeply about their welfare
• Yes, some millionaires and billionaires are busy fleeing the UK, fearful that they may be asked to pay a bit more tax. However, others have actually asked to be taxed more

You cannot judge all people by the behaviour of the few.

So what about politicians?

In vox pop after vox pop, people ‘ordinary people’, are seen saying that they don’t believe politicians any more and that they are ‘all the same’. Making promises they don’t keep and being ‘out for themselves’.

But like our young people, landlords and millionaires, this is not true of ALL politicians. Although, after 14 years of Tory rule, it’s understandable why many feel like this.

However, call me stupid, but I believe that Keir Starmer and his cabinet are different.

For a start, NONE of them went to Eton. Many, such as Angela Rayner, Bridget Phillipson, Wes Streeting, and Keir Starmer himself, grew up in working-class families where money was tight.

They are much closer in their life experiences to the rest of us.

What about Sir Keir?

Unlike most of his Tory Prime Minster predecessors, he did not attend Private School (both David Cameron and Boris Johnson went to Eton) but a local grammar school. Based on his 11 plus examination results, not his parent’s money.

He did his first degree at Leeds rather than Oxford

What about his work background?

• He was a top civil rights lawyer choosing to ‘help people’ rather than earn lots of money
• He acted ‘pro bono’ (legal term for ‘free’) for deserving cases, in particular in the McLibel case and defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty
• He was an adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board (a key influence in his decision to go into politics), meaning he has a thorough grasp of Northern Ireland politics
• He worked as the Director of Public Prosecutions for 5 years, giving him experience in running a large government department

Surely a better preparation for government than being a journalist or a hedge fund manager?

So I do not agree with the excess of caution with which our press has welcomed the incoming Labour government.

I think Keir Starmer is just what we need, and (frankly) we are bloody lucky to have him.

Rachel Reeves too. It is about time we had a woman Chancellor of the Exchequer.

She too, has a proper background for her job, being a trained economist who previously worked at the Bank of England.

Hope for the future

Having a large majority, the Starmer government should remain in post for at least five years. Which will give us a welcome period of stability.

Given his background of service rather than self-service, I believe Keir Starmmer and his team will (eventually and no doubt with difficulty) steer the country out of its present choppy waters into the calmer seas of fairness and prosperity.

If they get things right, the long-term future could be very bright.

As Andrew Marr, another Keir Starmer optimist, has said, if you look around the world, Britain, under a relatively centrist government, will look like a relatively safe haven for investment. So, a ‘wall of money’ could be coming our way.

This is the Landlord Law Blog. So

What about the private rented sector?

There is a great fear among landlords that this government will be unduly harsh on them. Many are already selling up in fear of this.

However, Sir Keir must know how important the private rented sector is. We really need it. If many landlords leave this will impact badly on tenants. He won’t want this.

Those who have the most to fear will be the bad and criminal landlords, not those who deal fairly with their tenants.

And if the government achieve greater growth as they promise, that must mean fewer rent arrears.

And finally

I suspect that in 10-15 years’ time the Starmer government will have improved the public’s view of politicians so much they may even be willing to trust their future once again to a Conservative government.

Provided, of course, that the Tories have, in the meantime, proved themselves worthy of high office.