Tory attacks on Labour show election campaigning has begun

Sir Keir Starmer is to oppose the creation of new “ultra low emission zones” of the kind seen in London, in the latest attempt by the Labour leader to bolster his party’s defences ahead of next year’s election.

Starmer’s allies say he will soon make it clear that he will not support the creation of similar Ulez schemes in other cities while the country is facing a cost of living crisis.

Rishi Sunak, prime minister, and the Conservatives have in recent weeks stepped up their attacks on Labour, in a sign that campaigning has already started ahead of an election expected next summer or autumn.

“Rishi is frustrated that Starmer gets away with too much,” said one Sunak ally. “We’re going to be prosecuting Labour’s policy positions. They’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

With the economy in a poor state and with 7.5mn people on record NHS hospital waiting lists, Sunak’s advisers have urged the prime minister to “take off the gloves” on a range of other subjects.

The Conservatives have stepped up attack on Labour’s positions on issues including the environment, migration and fiscal responsibility.

Meanwhile Lee Anderson, Conservative deputy chair, said the next election should be fought on “a mix of culture wars and the trans debate”.

The danger signs for Starmer were flashing after last month’s Uxbridge by-election, where the Tories held the seat after campaigning against plans by London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan for an extended Ulez.

The Conservatives claimed this was an example of Labour being willing to penalise working people — who would be charged £12.50 for driving heavily polluting cars in the zone — in pursuit of its green objectives.

Some cities — for example Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Newcastle and Bradford — already have clean air zones.

Greater Manchester has also proposed a zone but mayor Andy Burnham was inundated by complaints from angry residents who dubbed it “Burnham’s van tax”. Last year the mayor slammed the brakes on the scheme, which is currently in limbo.

“We want to make a clear statement so that it can’t be something got up as a scare story by the Tories,” said one Starmer ally. “You want to make the target for your opponent as small as possible — that’s what we are doing.”

Starmer’s determination to close down Tory attack lines was made clear last month at his party’s national policy forum, where he used the Uxbridge defeat as a reason to rewrite some of his party’s policies.

“We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour party end up on each and every Tory leaflet,” Starmer told his party. “We’ve got to face up to that and learn the lessons.”

Another example was the party’s decision last month to drop its support for gender self-identification, a policy which proved controversial in Scotland.

Sunak intervened this year to stop the Scottish National party government at Holyrood enacting a law that would have allowed somebody to change their gender from the age of 16 without medical certification.

In June Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor, also watered down Labour’s pledge to borrow £28bn during every year of the next parliament to fund green investments, a policy pilloried as fiscally reckless by Sunak.

The Conservatives have also attempted to blame Labour for being partly responsible for the chaos in the UK’s asylum system, accusing “lefty lawyers” of trying to game the system.

Sunak gave a glimpse of his party’s new approach when he tweeted last month: “This is what we’re up against. The Labour party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs — they’re all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally.”

The fact that Sunak has identified Starmer as the arch-lefty lawyer — a reference to his time as head of the Crown Prosecution Service — is a sign of the party’s willingness to broaden its attack.

But it was Sunak’s attempt to portray Starmer as an environmental fundamentalist which has been causing most concern in Labour circles since the Uxbridge contest.

This week Starmer tried to address claims that Labour has embraced the policies of Just Stop Oil: Dale Vince, a wealthy Labour donor, has also given money to the campaign group.

Starmer wrote in the Times that protesters seeking to halt British fossil fuel production are “contemptible”, but Tory attacks have continued this week.

Grant Shapps, energy secretary, latched on to reports that Labour’s candidate in the Mid-Bedfordshire by-election, Alistair Strathern, had been part of a zombie-themed environmental protest at Westminster.

“Labour have gone too far this time — plotting to put eco-fanatics in parliament,” Shapps tweeted. “Keir Starmer, I’m challenging you to today ban members of the eco-mob from Labour’s candidate list.”

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Starmer’s camp say the Labour leader is responding to the first outbreak of serious election campaigning by closing down the party’s exposed positions, while focusing on issues that voters really care about. “There’s a difference between being cautious and being responsible,” said one aide.

“The Tories are having a conversation that the public aren’t engaged in or concerned about. We won’t be distracted from the issues that people do care about: the cost of living, mortgages and the state of the economy.”

Ben Page, global chief executive of Ipsos and visiting professor at King’s College London, said the Conservative party was resorting to a strategy of shoring up its core vote.

“They are so far behind in the polls, they now seem to see the job as to shore up the core vote and get that out. It’s the same with all the culture war stuff.

“This isn’t going to be helping to swing votes in blue wall seats in the south. Bear in mind that Labour is ahead on the economy and Keir Starmer is ahead as ‘best prime minister’ — which for Keir Starmer is quite impressive.”