Shapeshifting Starmer is at it again. Having spent much of the campaign stressing his commitment to “service” and the need to put “country first”, the Labour leader has now suggested he would want to finish work at 6pm on Fridays “pretty well come what may”.
As commander-in-chief of the world’s sixth largest economy, it’s highly probable diary demands will limit sofa time spent with the family.
Running the country isn’t a typical nine-to-five job. Margaret Thatcher famously slept only four hours a night. Rishi Sunak hasn’t hesitated to remind us, in response to Sir Keir Starmer’s Virgin Radio interview, that he “hasn’t finished at 6pm ever”.
In our modern economy, a shrinking number of jobs conform to normal working patterns. Just ask the junior doctors, who may find it a little easier to negotiate with Starmer now that he has made his own expectations around working conditions quite clear.
Some will sympathise with the Labour leader’s insistence that clocking off “relaxes” him, and the implication that he can be a “better decision-maker” if he allows himself the space to be a dad and have fun with his kids. Judging by the outcry which has erupted over the past 12 hours, many more will raise an eyebrow.
But is it any wonder Starmer appears to believe that, even in Number 10, his wellbeing ought to come before the job (or country)?
After all, the warning signs have been flashing for some time: within 100 days of a Labour government Angela Rayner intends to set in motion legislation that will hand workers the “biggest shake-up” of their entitlements in a generation. An end to fire and rehire, restrictions on “exploitative” zero hours contracts, right to entitlements such as sick pay from day one of a new job.
The unions Labour intends to strengthen want to take this further. Unison has officially backed a four-day working week (with no loss of pay) while the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has set out a roadmap to a £15-an-hour minimum wage for all (it is currently £11.44). Meanwhile the Labour Welsh government recently launched a universal basic income project (which will not be continued after the initial pilot ends in 2025 because of cost).
Underpinning all these demands and crackpot schemes is the idea that employers exist not to provide products and services which people want to buy or need to use – and in so doing creating wealth and jobs – but rather to enhance the contentment of the staff who work within them.
This is justified with the insistence, as Starmer hints at, that better conditions will boost output, but these claims aren’t grounded in the evidence. Productivity shrunk 0.3pc in the first quarter of this year. London suffered the biggest decline, which economists have attributed to remote working. “Working zero days from the office, which you can see in the Civil Service, is just not working out,” warns Adrian Pabst, of the NIESR.
Of course, there are some roles which can be performed as easily – if not better – from home, or the beach or with irregular hours. But we shouldn’t forget that all labour market regulation comes at a cost: were this not the case, compulsion wouldn’t be needed, as some employers would experiment by offering cost-neutral variations in working arrangements which better suited workers. “Workers’ rights” have become a one-sided bargain, but what of the needs of business owners who are already drowning in red tape?
And as we toy with the idea of implementing shorter working weeks or a right to disconnect, in Greece workers have been told they can put in a sixth day of labour in a move designed to turbocharge productivity – rather putting our work ethic to shame.
Despite our economic stagnation, flatlining productivity and declining living standards, the Labour Party appears to believe we can indulge the needs and wishes of our increasingly entitled workforce. Britain is getting poorer and the example Starmer intends to set will do little to quell concerns that he has no clue how to “go for growth”.
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