Labour have only been in power for 13 months, and they have been written off by the right-wing media from day one. Why is that? Do people really think that fourteen years of Tory chaos can be undone in just 13 months?
Or is it simply that the public no longer has the patience to wait for carefully thought-out strategies to bear fruit? Are the simplistic solutions peddled by the populists and their right-wing media backers so persuasive that realistic policy solutions will never again be sufficient to satisfy voters?
There is no doubt the right-wing media in the UK are doing everything they can to undermine Labour with their constant headlines about broken promises and failure to deliver. But what is the truth?
Labour’s unbroken promises?
In September 2024 Sir Keir Starmer promised “Progress displayed publicly. So every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.” The independent fact checker, Full Fact, took this at face value and is maintaining a government tracker that identified 72 key pledges (as of 20 August 2025) made by Labour in their 2024 manifesto and since.
Full Fact assesses that 68% of Labour’s pledges are achieved, on track or in progress. Only one is judged to be ‘not kept’, and that’s because Labour reduced the money to be allocated to the national wealth fund from £7.3 billion to £5.8 billion, with the remainder to be assigned through other avenues to projects in “five priority sectors”.
Only three of the pledges appear to be ‘off track’: restoring development spending to 0.7% of gross national income “…as soon as fiscal circumstances allow”; ending asylum hotels by 2029; and building 1.5 million new homes over the current parliament.
Delivering for working families?
Labour made a big pitch that they would make our lives better and undo some of the wreckage left by the Tories. You would think from the mainstream media that nothing had been achieved since Labour took power. That’s plain wrong; here are some of Labour’s major achievements so far.
Big pay boosts & workers’ rights
The National Minimum Wage increased by 6.7% to £12.21/hour, outpacing inflation—an uplift worth up to £1,400/year for a full-time worker. Younger workers saw even sharper rises: 18–20 year-olds up 16.3% to £10, and 16–17 year-olds up 18% to £7.55.
The Employment Rights Bill delivers parental leave, sick pay, and unfair dismissal protection from day one on the job, and zero-hour contracts and ‘fire-and-rehire’ practices have been banned.
Tackling insecurity for renters & young families
The Renters’ Rights Bill bans Section 21 no-fault evictions, offers longer notice periods, controls “back-door” evictions via rent spikes, strengthens anti-discrimination, and raises minimum standards in rental properties.
Fresh investment: Health, schools & homes
The budget in October 2024 delivered a massive £22.6 billion increase to the NHS day-to-day budget, plus a boost of £3.1 billion in capital spending, including £1 billion for hospital repairs and rebuilding.
Education received a £6.7 billion increase, a real-terms uplift of 19%, including £1.4 billion to rebuild over 500 schools.
The budget also delivered £5 billion for housing investment in 2025–26, plus:
- £500 million for 5,000 new social homes.
- £240 million to help get people into work via targeted projects.
- A £30 million boost for free breakfast clubs.
- Pay raises for 3 million workers.
- A significant Household Support Fund (£1 billion) for financial hardship.
- A historic state pension rise of up to £470, and the biggest-ever expansion of Carer’s Allowance eligibility.
Childcare, work, and family support
The Get Britain Working white paper provides for 15 hours/week of free early education for working parents of 9-month- to 2-year-olds, extending to 30 hours after September 2025.
Childcare support via Universal Credit will cover up to 85% of costs – up to £1,014/month for one child and £1,739 for two or more.
3,000 school-based nursery places will be created along with free breakfast clubs in primary schools to support working families.
Early years & community support
In July 2025 the Sure Start scheme, scrapped by the Conservatives in 2021, relaunched as “Best Start”, with a £500 million fund to open new family hubs in deprived areas of every council by April 2026, up to 1,000 hubs by the end of 2028.
Clean energy & energy security
The Great British Energy Act 2025, given Royal Assent in May 2025, created Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean-energy firm to boost energy independence, invest strategically, and return profits to the public.
Labour removed the ban on onshore wind farms in England early in its term, supporting jobs and lowering power costs.
Public service investment
The Spring Statement 2025 launched Pathways to Work, under which the UK government plans to invest £1 billion per year by 2029–30 in employment and health support for individuals with health conditions or disabilities, primarily those receiving out-of-work benefits.
The government will increase the Universal Credit standard allowance for new and existing claims above inflation from 2026-27. This means the standard allowance weekly rate for a single person aged 25 and over will increase from £92 in 2025-26 to £106 in 2029-30.
Soft power returns
Brexit made us an international laughing stock, and under the Conservatives, the UK turned inwards, and we isolated ourselves from our global partners, shredding our soft power around the world. Labour under Sir Keir Starmer has worked hard to rebuild our national reputation.
Relations with the EU have been rebuilt, culminating in the EU-UK Reset Deal in May 2025. The Kensington Treaty with Germany, signed in July 2025, is a historic friendship and cooperation agreement covering defence, technology, travel, and cultural exchanges – the first such treaty since WWII.
In May 2025 the UK signed a major trade agreement with the United States and in July signed a Free Trade Agreement with India, boosting our economy by £4.8 billion annually.
On the world stage the UK has taken a leadership role on Ukraine and NATO, working behind the scenes to moderate US positions, and has been instrumental in co-ordinating the ‘coalition of the willing’. Our national reputation for diplomacy has been restored thanks largely to the efforts of the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary.
And it’s not just in Europe and the US that we have engaged effectively with enhanced collaboration with Canada, renewed the relationship with China and secured a £1 billion investment in climate technology from Qatar.
Nothing’s perfect!
Despite many global challenges requiring intense government attention, these domestic and international achievements reveal a government genuinely focused on raising living standards for working people and demonstrate tangible benefits delivered for all of us. Is Labour’s record since July 2024 perfect? No, of course not. Mistakes have been made, and communication has been poor, but Labour should be proud of their track record so far, and we should afford them time to continue putting the UK back together.
It is refreshing to have a government that actually tries to address difficult challenges with practical, long-term solutions, rather than pretending they can be solved with sound bites and popular, but simplistic, sticking plasters. Having grown-ups back in charge of the country is a breath of fresh air.
