Politics
Starmer fails to grasp basic economics
Keir Starmer just got community-noted on Twitter again. This time, our vaunted PM managed to display his ignorance of entry-level economics – he seems to think that lower inflation means lower prices.
Now, when writing this kind of piece, I’d normally include a dozen quote tweets dunking on Starmer for such an obvious blunder. Unfortunately, that looks like it’d be rather boring today, given that they’re all some variation on ‘That’s not how inflation works, you utter fucking clown’.
So, instead, let’s take a different tack. Sometimes this job can ingrain a deep cynicism in your soul that challenges your ability to find the common humanity in the politicians we write about. With that in mind, I’m going to try for the most charitable interpretation of Starmer’s tweet I can muster.
Okay Starmer, we’re being nice today
On 18 February, Starmer tweeted:
The choices this Labour government has made means inflation has fallen today to its lowest rate in a year.
Lower food and petrol prices are helping ease the pressure on household budgets.
I know there’s more to do, cutting the cost of living is my number one priority.
Readers almost immediately added context through the site’s community notes function:
Inflation is higher now than when Labour took office and is 1% above target inflation.
Lower inflation does not equal lower prices, as inflation is a measure of rising prices.
Oo, burn.
But, what if the elected leader of the United Kingdom does actually understand what an economy is and how money works? What if the tweet was just phrased a little poorly? What if Starmer is just a tired guy who’s been kept up all week defending his affiliations with his party’s Epstein ties and local election U-turns?
I bet you feel dead mean now, don’t you? The poor bloke could lose his job if people keep being this uncharitable.
Key points
I’ll start with the central assumption that the PM isn’t trying willfully to deceive the voting public. As such, I’m absolutely sure that he meant to say that lower inflation means that the money will have greater worth in real terms.
With that more-kindly interpretation in mind, Starmer is making three key statements here:
- Inflation has fallen to its lowest rate in a year.
- Food and petrol prices are also lower.
- This fall is because of Labour actually doing something right for a change (please clap/ love me – this part is implicit, but important nonetheless).
Let’s examine them in order, and really try to take them at face value. I’ll let go, for the moment, of the biases induced by Starmer’s active support for genocide and the second rise of fascism.
Inflation is down!(?)
So, first up – how’s the inflation level actually doing?
Well, according to the Office of National Statistics, the rate of inflation did drop from 3.4% in the year to December to 3% in January.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist of the ONS, stated that:
Inflation fell markedly in January to its lowest annual rate since March last year, driven partly by a decrease in petrol prices.
Airfares were another downward driver this month with prices dropping back following the increase in December.
But wait – lowest rate since March last year? Given that it’s still currently February, and we’re looking at January’s figures, that means we’re definitely not seeing the “lowest rate in a year”.
Oof, that’s a bad start for the ‘maybe Starmer isn’t a clown’ hypothesis.
Money goes further (??)
Next on the agenda – food prices. The ONS reported that:
Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices rose by 3.6% in the 12 months to January 2026, down from 4.5% in the 12 months to December 2025. On a monthly basis, food and non-alcoholic beverages prices fell by 0.1% in January 2026, compared with a rise of 0.9% a year ago.
Oh dear, it’s not looking good for our ‘Starmer isn’t a dickhead theory’, is it? A monthly fall of 0.1% after a year’s rise of 3.6% makes the ‘lower food prices’ claim technically true, but deeply misleading at best.
Meanwhile, on the subject of petrol, the ONS said:
The largest downward effect came from motor fuels, where the average price of petrol fell by 3.1 pence per litre between December 2025 and January 2026, compared with a rise of 0.8 pence per litre between December 2024 and January 2025. The average price stood at 133.2 pence per litre in January 2026, down from 137.1 pence per litre a year earlier.
A genuine fall in prices! Wonders shall never cease. I’ll give a partial credit to the PM on this point.
‘Thanks to the choices we made’
Like Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves was also quick to claim falling inflation as a win for Labour. She stated that:
Thanks to the choices we made at the budget we are bringing inflation down, with £150 off energy bills, a freeze in rail fares for the first time in 30 years and prescription fees frozen again.
Now, whether or not this economic change is down to Labour’s budget wizardry would require a much longer examination. However, if Labour wants to claim this win for its budget, it probably also needs to own its loss. You see, as the BBC reported:
For 16-24s, the unemployment rate now sits at 16.1% – the highest figure in just over a decade. While for 25-34s it’s 4.7%, the highest since 2017.
Average pay also grew by 4.2%, down from a revised 4.4% in the three months to November.
Economists say the latest figures would reinforce expectations that inflation will fall back, making it likely the Bank of England would choose to cut interest rates soon[.]
Inflation is slowing – but also, unemployment is soaring, particularly for young people. Given that a job is usually necessary in order to make the money to buy things like food and petrol, I’m afraid I’m going to have to declare this one another point against Starmer’s claims.
So, there we have it. Even if we take the most charitable tack my jaded soul can manage, our glorious leader still comes out looking like he doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.
Oh, and a corollary point – we definitely don’t need to clap.
Featured image via the Canary