The victory, however, was also somewhat deceptive. Though Labour had won strongly in parliamentary terms,  Labour’s vote share had increased by less than two percentage points, whilst the Conservative vote had halved. The Labour vote share was just under 34%, and they had received fewer votes than their losing effort in 2019. The election was clearly a mandate for change, but it might be argued that it was less an unequivocal endorsement of Labour, and more an outright rejection of the Conservatives.

In the King’s Speech of 17 July 2024, Starmer’s government set out an extensive programme of reform, much of which was subsequently enacted. Passenger rail services began to return to public operation as existing contracts expired. Planning legislation sought to accelerate major infrastructure projects. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act broadened the powers of mayors and local authorities. Constitutional legislation removed hereditary peers from the House of Lords and extended the arrangements prioritising women bishops when vacancies arose amongst the Lords Spiritual.

The government’s social and economic legislation was also substantial. The Renters’ Rights Act ended ‘no-fault’ evictions and strengthened tenancy protections and housing enforcement. The Employment Rights Act significantly expanded workplace protections. Great British Energy was established to support the development of clean energy, while the National Wealth Fund was created by expanding the former UK Infrastructure Bank. Although the brevity of Starmer’s premiership meant that few of these reforms had properly come to fruition by the time he left Number 10, they will likely constitute an important legislative legacy.

In July 2024, following the murders of three girls in Southport, Starmer also confronted violent rioting across the country. He coordinated the government’s response, convened emergency meetings, and supported rapid arrests and prosecutions. While the forceful reaction had quelled the violence, it cast a shadow over his early premiership.

Starmer’s economic policy sought to boost growth and ease the cost-of-living crisis after the sluggish post-Covid years. This had to be done in the face of a high budget deficit and a national debt that was close to 100% of GDP. Chancellor Rachel Reeves had put in place two primary rules: first the government must cover current spending with tax revenues; secondly, public sector net financial liabilities must be falling as a share of GDP by the end of the five-year forecast.

Reeves’s first October 2024 Budget raised spending by £70 billion and taxes by £36 billion, which provided more money for infrastructure investment and the NHS. The Budget raised employers’ National Insurance contributions, which critics argued conflicted with Labour’s promise not to increase National Insurance or taxes on working people. While GDP grew by 1.4% in 2025 and 0.6% in the first quarter of 2026, growth remained uneven, household disposable income fell in early 2026, and the government failed to create a wider sense of improving prosperity.

Starmer’s earliest misstep was the restriction of winter fuel payments from most pensioners, removing the entitlement from some 10 million in July 2024. The measure was intended to show that the government took fiscal responsibility seriously. Instead, it provoked a backlash and was deeply unpopular. While the cut was eventually largely reversed, the damage had been done. Critics within government argued that the reversal left pensioner benefits politically untouchable and further weakened the government’s credibility when proposing welfare reform.

An early ethics controversy concerned gifts received by Starmer and his wife Victoria. Though most had been declared and no finding of wrongdoing was made, the episode undermined Starmer’s promise of a more ethical approach at Number 10. Moreover, in October 2024, Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray stepped down, acknowledging that ‘intense commentary’ around her position had become ‘a distraction’.

Later, in early 2025, the government proposed changes to disability and incapacity benefits, intended to reduce projected spending and encourage employment. This provoked a major backbench rebellion. Ultimately, Starmer chose to U-turn on many of the measures, and postpone the tightening of Personal Independence Payment eligibility pending a review. When the resulting welfare bill was passed on 1 July 2025, it contained only some of the proposed Universal Credit reforms, and much of the expected savings had been lost. This significantly reduced the government’s fiscal room for manoeuvre while heavily damaging the Prime Minister’s authority.

The following year, Starmer would scrap the two-child benefit limit. It was estimated by the government that this would lift 450,000 children out of relative poverty by the end of the parliament. Towards the end of his premiership, Starmer described this as his proudest achievement.

Immigration continued to be a major issue, as it had increased considerably under the Conservatives. Starmer, together with Home Secretaries Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood, tightened immigration rules, contributing to a heavy fall in net migration, though the decline also reflected late Conservative-era restrictions. The government’s record on illegal immigration was much weaker. Starmer abandoned Sunak’s Rwanda scheme in favour of an enforcement-led approach, but small-boat crossings of the Channel remained high. As a result, he was criticised both by immigration restrictionists, who wanted lower Channel crossings, and by some Labour backbenchers, who sought a softer stance on immigration-related policy and rhetoric.

The small-boats crisis was one of many issues that Starmer dealt with that he had inherited. Another was a crisis in prison capacity, to which the government responded with an early release programme. This proved controversial and unpopular, but the alternative was that the prison system reached capacity, with a serious impact on policing, courts, and sentencing.

Some of Starmer’s most significant achievements were in the NHS. The elective waiting list in England fell by more than half a million, reaching its lowest level in three and a half years. The number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment fell by 450,000, the largest reduction in 16 years. This represented a significant improvement, although the NHS remained well short of its eighteen-week treatment standard. In the 2025 Spending Review, Starmer’s government committed to a £29 billion real-terms increase in annual day-to-day NHS spending between 2023–24 and 2028–29. Additionally, a Ten-Year Health Plan was announced, with proposals to abolish NHS England, and a wider programme of reform.

Towards the end of Starmer’s premiership, in July 2026, British Steel was nationalised in order to preserve Britain’s national capacity for steelmaking. While Starmer was frequently criticised for indecision, the intervention was unusually rapid and demonstrated the government’s willingness to act directly to protect Britain’s remaining steelmaking capacity.

Internationally, the climate was tempestuous. Starmer sought to rebuild relationships in Europe, maintain a strong relationship with the White House, and secure trade agreements elsewhere. He continued Britain’s strong support for Ukraine, concluding a One Hundred Year Partnership with Kyiv, and helping to organise a European ‘coalition of the willing’. In March 2025, after a difficult meeting between Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, Starmer organised the London Summit on Ukraine, demonstrating the unity of European allies behind Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Gaza War continued and escalated, creating immense controversy at home and abroad. Britain recognised a Palestinian state in September 2025, alongside allies in Australia and Canada. Supporters of Israel and the US strongly criticised the measure, which they believed rewarded Hamas, who still held Israeli hostages. On the other side, many supporters of Palestine, including many Labour MPs, felt that the recognition was belated and had little impact on the ongoing conflict.  British forces would play a small role in the wider regional crisis during Starmer’s premiership, with limited air action against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Donald Trump won a second term as US president in November 2024. This had global ramifications, signifying that there would be no return to pre-2016 ‘normality’, and that Trump’s freewheeling diplomatic style would dominate the following years. As he had after 2016, Trump raised tariffs, demanded that NATO allies spend more for their defence, and took a much more determined line against perceived enemies. Nevertheless, for a while Starmer worked well with Trump, with a bilateral meeting at the White House in February 2025, during which he invited Trump back to Britain for an unprecedented second state visit. The two collaborated on the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal of May 2025. In the agreement Starmer obtained some important concessions, including a reduced tariff quota for British cars and the removal of tariffs on aerospace products, although it did not exempt Britain generally from Trump’s 10% tariff.

Starmer also pursued a reset with the European Union, after the long difficulties of Britain’s EU exit. Relations improved, with many European leaders seeing Starmer as a welcome change after the Conservatives that they blamed for Brexit. In May 2025, a new UK-EU Common Understanding was agreed, which provided a framework for future cooperation on security, fishing, migration, energy, and law enforcement. In July 2026 French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Starmer France’s highest decoration, the Legion of Honour, in recognition of his contribution to European security and Franco-British relations.

A significant free-trade agreement with India entered into force in July 2026. Agreements were also concluded with the Gulf states and Switzerland, although they had not yet entered into force when Starmer left office.

Starmer also committed Britain to transfer the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while leasing Diego Garcia island back for continuing military use. The government argued that this provided legal certainty after years of international legal pressure. Yet, the deal proved contentious, with critics attacking the cost, exclusion of many Chagossian voices, and national security implications. In April 2026, the Trump administration reversed its earlier support. The government paused the implementing legislation, which subsequently fell when  Parliament was prorogued.

In February 2026, Donald Trump announced a joint US-Israeli military offensive against Iran. Conducted with airstrikes and missiles, the war, which had been expected to be brief, lasted for months. The conflict pushed up fuel prices and further complicated the government’s economic position. Starmer refused to commit the British armed forces to the offensive, though did permit the US Air Force to use British bases for ‘defensive’ strikes. A very public rift with the White House followed as Trump criticised Starmer, saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.

More broadly, the Iran War also contributed to a wider dispute over Britain’s military capabilities. Starmer told the country that the armed forces must be better prepared and promised a ‘battle-ready, armour-clad nation’. But in strained economic circumstances, it was difficult to increase funding. In June 2026, Defence Secretary John Healey resigned, telling the Prime Minister that ‘you have been unable…to commit the resources that the nation needs at this time of rising threats’. Starmer did find additional funding for defence at the end of June 2026, though it was too late to save his authority.

One of the persistent criticisms of Starmer was that he failed to provide a defining vision for the country. As a result, there was no guiding narrative for his government. Nothing linked together the many initiatives and there was no clear focus. It encouraged a sense that Downing Street was drifting. Repeated attempts to fill this gap with ‘missions’ and resets could not make up for that initial lack of definition. For many Labour MPs, this soon became an issue; they hoped for a more assertive and effective government, and began to fear that the 2024 mandate was being wasted.

By early 2025, Starmer’s approval rating had already fallen sharply. By the end of the year, Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage and the Conservative Party’s Kemi Badenoch were significantly more popular than Starmer. In the 2025 local elections, Labour faced heavy defeats. Soon, Labour backbenchers were asking whether a new leader might be found. The opinion polls pointed to a serious defeat in the next election, and changing leader seemed less of a gamble.

There were temperamental issues too. Starmer was reportedly remote from MPs and relied on a narrow group of close advisers. Potential opposition to policies was sometimes not properly considered before those policies were announced. Hence several major initiatives and announcements were soon followed by retreats when the strength of opposition became clear.

By late 2025, a series of incidents cast doubts on Starmer’s judgement. Above all was the appointment of Labour grandee Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States in December 2024. Mandelson had initially been considered a good choice: he was experienced, personable, and well connected.

However, in September 2025 a US House of Representatives Committee had released documents related to the wealthy financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, who had died in prison in 2019. Mandelson’s association with Epstein was already public knowledge, but the newly released material showed that it had continued after Epstein’s 2008 conviction and had been closer than previously understood. Mandelson was dismissed in September 2025. Further disclosures raised serious questions about the vetting process and the extent to which warnings had been discounted. Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney resigned taking ‘full responsibility’ for recommending the appointment. Once again, the affair was very damaging to a Prime Minister who had promised a new era in ethical leadership.

Labour’s heavy defeats in the local and devolved elections of May 2026 convinced many MPs that a change of leader was necessary. The spotlight fell upon popular Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. An effort to allow him to run in an early 2026 by-election was blocked, but Starmer came under increasing pressure over the months that followed. Finally, by mid-May 2026 Starmer faced a major crisis, with several ministers resigning. Though the plotters failed to force Starmer’s resignation, Burnham was allowed to run as a Labour candidate in a by-election on 18 June.

Following Burnham’s victory at the Makerfield by-election, Starmer announced that he would resign as Labour leader. He stood down as Prime Minister on 20 July 2026. In his final speech he said ‘I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago… I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved.’