Starmer’s unfulfilled mandate exposed by Polanski

On social media, Green party leader Zack Polanski used a single word to tear apart Keir Starmer’s ‘I’m not resigning because I’m noble‘ shtick.

Polanski: “Mandates…”

Mandates…. https://t.co/GaJxZPf8xL pic.twitter.com/rNZeUQBubE— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) February 10, 2026

Indeed, Starmer was elected Labour leader on a mandate to carry out policies that party members support. But as soon as Starmer became Labour leader he gradually ditched every single one of those pledges — as Polanski highlighted.

Starmer tore up his mandate

On the pledge sheet sent to Labour members, Starmer promised raising income tax on the top 5% of earners. But in September 2023, the MP for Holborn and St Pancras walked that back, stating there would be no increase. It was a lie and Polanski is right to point this out.

He also pledged “support[ing] the abolition of tuition fees”. Instead, Labour has raised tuition fees by £285 — another lie. This should reduce Starmer’s mandate to tatters and he should be recalled for another election.

It’s increasingly clear that words mean very little to Starmer. He also promised that he would “put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything we do”.

And yet again, in February 2024, the Labour leader dropped a £28bn per year commitment to green energy. And in government, he’s propping up fossil fuel firms with £22bn for carbon capture projects that don’t even work.

Another pledge from Starmer was “no more illegal wars” and to:

“put human rights at the heart of foreign policy. Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and justice.

But the Labour government has provided diplomatic cover, arms, and logistic support for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. So that’s another lie.

Starmer also claimed that “public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders. Support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water.”

But in similar form, he dropped plans to re-nationalise energy, mail and water. On rail, Labour is only nationalising the services, not the actual trains themselves. We will still rent those from rolling stock companies.

Another betrayed pledge was to “defend free movement as we leave the EU”. But in November 2022, he reversed his position. He branded free movement a “red-line” that “won’t come back under my government”.

Under another, Starmer expressed his commitment to working:

shoulder to shoulder with trade unions to stand up for working people.

But then he demanded that his shadow cabinet do not join picket lines.

Resign

With these broken pledges in mind, the lies are stacking up, and Starmer should have resigned long ago.

In the UK, manifestos and commitments are treated as a joke — a means used by politicians to slide into power. Given the current state of UK politics, the public has grown attuned to these lies, but we must hold the elite to account and demand better — for all!

Featured image via the Canary