Sir Keir Starmer has announced that he will resign as leader of the Labour Party, bringing his premiership to an end after nearly two years in power.
Standing on the steps of Downing Street, the outgoing prime minister said: “Walking up this street two years ago was the proudest moment of my life. A new Labour government. The first in 14 years. A page in our country’s history turned after years of disappointment and despair.”
“Look at what we’ve achieved in just two years,” he added, pointing to above-inflation wage rises, reductions in NHS waiting lists, new rights for renters and workers, and action to lift half a million children out of poverty through the end of the two-child benefit cap.
His exit paves the way for a new Labour leader to take over as prime minister, widely expected to be former Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, who returns to Westminster after being elected in Makerfield last week.
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Sir Keir spoke with pride about his record in No 10, but many have also criticised Sir Keir’s government for frequent U-turns over the past two years.
The prime minister’s time in office has undoubtedly been marred by a series of rowbacks and climbdowns, from the watering down of the government’s flagship benefits bill to a major U-turn on the controversial winter fuel cut.
Here, The Independent takes a look at all the times the government has gone back on its word or let voters down since winning the election in 2024:
Local elections
Last year, Labour announced plans to postpone some local elections in 2026 in an attempt to address concerns about a lack of resources across some councils.
Some authorities said a lack of resources needed to deliver local government reorganisation (LGR), and the cost of holding elections has led to the need for a delay.
But in February, the government announced it was dropping the plans to delay elections for more than 4.5 million people in as many as 30 councils, after being warned against the move by lawyers.
The U-turn came after Reform UK launched legal action against the government, with sources telling The Times that the new legal advice was related to the challenge which was due to be heard in court.
Nigel Farage claimed the U-turn as a victory for his party, writing on social media: “We took this Labour government to court and won. In collusion with the Tories, Keir Starmer tried to stop 4.6 million people voting on May 7th. Only Reform UK fights for democracy.”
Mandatory digital ID
In September, the prime minister announced the introduction of the “Brit card” to make it harder for people without the right to work to find employment.
The digital Brit card, downloaded onto a smartphone, was designed to verify an individual’s right to live and work in the UK, similar to a system in Estonia, where citizens are given unique identification numbers.
But now a government source says the compulsory element of the scheme had been “stopping conversation about what digital IDs could be used for generally”.
The source told The Times: “Stepping back from mandatory-use cases will deflate one of the main points of contention. We do not want to risk there being cases of some 65-year-old in a rural area being barred from working because he hasn’t installed the ID.”
Business rate relief for pubs
Chancellor Rachel Reeves oversaw another humiliating U-turn earlier this year on her plans to scrap business rate relief for pubs after a backlash from the hospitality sector and Labour MPs.
Ministers told The Independent that the chancellor changed the plans she announced in the Autumn Budget amid fears that it could see the doors close on many of Britain’s pubs and restaurants.
Ms Reeves had announced a cut in rates, but her decision to end the temporary Covid relief meant establishments would pay much higher bills.
The relief was worth up to 40 per cent of rates at a maximum of £110,000 a year and was going to come to an end in April under Ms Reeves’s original plans.
Tractor tax
After months of pressure from farmers, Sir Keir watered down plans to tax inherited farmland.
Under the plans, announced by Ms Reeves last year, farmers were to be charged 20 per cent on agricultural assets above £1m from April 2026. This triggered a storm of fury, with fears that family-run farms would be worst affected.
But last month, Labour said it was raising the threshold from £1m to £2.5m, meaning that most farms would not have to pay it.
The climbdown came after crunch talks between National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw and the prime minister in December, following a year of protests about the measures.
Income tax hike
Ahead of the Budget, the chancellor decided against hiking income tax despite two weeks of clear signals in public speeches that she was poised to break the party’s manifesto pledge not to do so.
With markets spooked by the sudden U-turn, reported by the Financial Times two weeks before the Budget, the cost of borrowing for the government spiked, with 10-year gilts up 12 basis points at 4.56 per cent.
Treasury sources insisted the decision had been taken because of better-than-expected economic data, but others blamed interference from Downing Street in a bid to protect the prime minister from a potential leadership challenge.
Benefit cuts
Sir Keir suffered the biggest blow to his leadership since coming into power after he was forced to abandon a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament in July 2025.
Just 90 minutes before voting began, ministers announced that plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) – which had been the central pillar of the government’s reforms – were being dropped.
Sir Keir had already been forced into a U-turn the week before when more than 130 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have effectively killed the bill off. Among the concessions announced then was a plan to impose tougher eligibility rules only on future PIP claimants, leaving existing recipients unaffected.
Winter fuel payments
In July 2024, the chancellor announced that pensioners not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits would no longer receive winter fuel payments, a £300 payment to help with energy costs in the colder months.
After spending months ruling out a U-turn, the prime minister in May told MPs he now wants to ensure more pensioners are eligible for the payment – something he claimed has come as a result of an improving economic picture.
After weeks of speculation over what the changes would look like, it was confirmed that 9 million pensioners will be eligible for the payment – a huge uplift from the 1.5 million pensioners who received the payment in winter 2024/25.
Grooming gangs
Sir Keir spent months brushing off calls for a national inquiry with statutory powers into grooming gangs as unnecessary.
As Elon Musk launched himself headlong into the debate, calling for a fresh probe into the scandal, Labour’s refusal looked increasingly unlikely to hold. But Sir Keir stood firm, and even accused those calling for an inquiry, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, of “jumping on the bandwagon of the far-right”.
But in yet another screeching U-turn, after months of holding out, Sir Keir in June 2025 accepted the recommendation of Baroness Casey to hold an inquiry.
Waspi women
In a 2022 interview, Sir Keir said: “All your working life you’ve got in mind the date on which you can retire and get your pension, and just as you get towards it, the goalposts are moved and you don’t get it, and it’s a real injustice.
“We need to do something about it. That wasn’t the basis on which you paid in or the basis on which you were working.”
But, in a change of tune since becoming prime minister, Sir Keir last year sent his work and pensions secretary out to tell Women Against State Pension Inequality, Waspi women, they would not be getting any compensation.
To complicate matters further, in November, the government announced it would revisit a decision to deny the Waspi women payouts.
Ministers claimed that evidence that was not shown to the then work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, when she made the decision had since come to light and needed to be considered.
National insurance
Labour’s pre-election manifesto promised not to increase national insurance.
It stated: “Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase national insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or VAT.”
But Sir Keir and chancellor Ms Reeves used the ambiguity around whether they meant employer or employee national insurance contributions to steamroll the pledge at Labour’s first Budget in power.
The pair argue that they only promised to keep employee contributions frozen and instead landed firms with a 2 per cent increase to employer national insurance contributions.
Two-child benefit cap
At last year’s Budget, Ms Reeves announced an end to the two-child benefit cap, following months of intense pressure from backbenchers, campaign groups and political opponents.
It marked a major U-turn for Labour, with ministers previously refusing to listen to critics on the measure.
In 2024, the prime minister enforced the whip on seven Labour MPs who voted against their party to oppose the two-child benefit cap.
Coming into effect in April 2026, the government estimates that the change will reduce the number of children living in poverty by 450,000 by 2029/30. It will cost the Exchequer £3bn by this time, according to the OBR.
Workers’ rights
The government also U-turned on its flagship manifesto promise to protect workers from unfair dismissal from their first day in a job following concerns from business owners.
Labour had backed a raft of “basic rights” including parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal under the umbrella Employment Rights Bill.
But the government has been forced to backtrack after the Bill struggled to progress through the Lords amid concerns about the impact the changes could have on small businesses.
The government conceded to a six-month qualifier, saying it had made a “workable package” that would be more likely to get approved by MPs. Currently, the qualifying period is 24 months.
