How Keir Starmer plans to rule through the courts

Never mind Labour’s promise not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT – the party will soon be jacking up taxes for everyone. That sums up the Conservatives’ attack line for this election campaign. But in focusing almost wholly on tax, the Tories are missing what threatens to become the real theme of a Keir Starmer government: the eclipse of elected politicians and the continued draining away of power to the courts.

According to polls, Labour is heading for a majority of more than 200. That in itself would clip the wings of the House of Commons. Opposition parties will be too weak to challenge a Starmer government, while Labour’s backbenchers will have virtually no power either, as it would take too many of them to threaten Labour’s majority. But who needs large numbers of parliamentary bills when – as Labour showed last time it was in government – the left can achieve what it wants by passing overarching pieces of legislation and relying on judicial activism to do the rest.