Keir Starmer’s competent monotony could halt Border poll progress

Keir Starmer making his keynote address during the Labour Party conference last month. Picture by Peter Byrne

Sam McBride

For two-and-a-half years, Keir Starmer has been leader of the British Labour Party; for two-and-a-half weeks it has been clear he is overwhelmingly likely to be Labour’s seventh prime minister.

Starmer’s programme will have profound consequences for Ireland, yet it has received little serious scrutiny because until now his position looked uncertain. Suddenly, events far beyond his scant power are propelling Starmer not only toward Downing Street, but toward a place in history, because he will inherit a nation more economically and constitutionally fragile than anyone now alive can remember.