From migration to Mandelson: Keir Starmer’s successes and failures in No 10

Keir Starmer during a debate on the king's speech in the House of Commons. Photograph: House of Commons/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Keir Starmer during a debate on the king's speech in the House of Commons. Photograph: House of Commons/AFP/Getty Images From migration to Mandelson: Keir Starmer’s successes and failures in No 10 Where did it go wrong for the outgoing prime minister? And how much – if at all – did it threaten to go right? Keir Starmer pitched himself as a leader for “stability and moderation” who would rebuild Britain, after Labour’s landslide victory in the 2024 general election. But after two years which have seen unforced errors, economic headwinds, scandals and, most recently, a disastrous set of devolved, mayoral and local election results the UK is set to have its sixth prime minister in seven years. With the era of Starmer over, what are the major policy successes – and failures – of his time in office? Success: boosts for ‘working people’ Labour’s employment rights bill was hailed by Starmer as “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation” when it came into law in December. While Labour backed down from its plan to give all workers the right to claim unfair dismissal from their first day in a job, the bill paved the way for significant new rights for workers on sick pay, parental leave and zero-hours contracts. View image in fullscreen Starmer leaving Downing Street for the last prime minister’s questions of 2025. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said the move was “historic” and gave workers “vital rights”, while the Conservatives and business groups said it would be costly to businesses and could lead to a hiring reticence. One of the biggest moves made by this government – and one that has gone almost under the radar – is that from April this year, millions of low-paid workers in the UK got a 4.1% pay rise , when Starmer’s government increased the national living wage from £12.21 to £12.71 an hour for over-21s, increasing the earnings of about 2.4 million workers by £900 a year. Plenty of workers are also renters, and Starmerites would point to the Renters’ Rights Act as a significant boost for the almost two-fifths of households in England who rent privately or socially. As a result of the act, landlords need a legal reason to evict tenants, tenancies are no longer fixed-term, and landlords have to follow a formal process to evict tenants. Success: Starmer the international statesman Starmer has often seemed at his most comfortable on the international stage. After spending much of his early period in power courting Donald Trump, he boasted last May that the UK had secured a “breakthrough” trade deal slashing some tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel and saving thousands of British jobs. View image in fullscreen The prime minister spent much of his early period in power courting Donald Trump. Photograph: Carl Court/AP That deal has looked shaky in recent mo