Lee Anderson column: Keir Starmer did nothing for Ashfield
As Keir Starmer's premiership as Prime Minister comes to an end, the residents of Ashfield will rightly be reflecting and asking what he did for them?
I believe they will inevitably come to the same conclusion that I have, that overall, Keir Starmer failed as Prime Minister, and that he did very little to better the lives of ordinary working people.
The highlights of his term in office?
Eye-watering tax rises creating an unbearable tax burden.
Bills are still rising as the cost of living has become insufferable.
Unemployment has shot up as businesses have been choked by tax rises and minimum wage increases.
The benefits bill has significantly ballooned to unsustainable levels.
The small illegal boat crossings are still arriving in their thousands.
They have failed to get a grip on mass migration.
Britain has become lawless with rising crime rates, anti-social behaviour, and the state of the UK justice system.
Ashfield residents will be happy to see the back end of Keir Starmer and they will no doubt be celebrating his resignation in the warm weather we have had recently.
However, residents should be careful not to confuse this last week's events as a new dawn breaking on Britain.
June 23 marked the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.
It was 10 years ago that we dared to dream that we could have an independent United Kingdom that controlled its own borders, laws, and money.
That day, the British people triggered a political earthquake when they voted to get their country back – 70 per cent of Ashfield voted to leave.
Brexit is widely regarded as the biggest exercise of democracy in our long history.
Swathes of people turned out to vote for the first time.
The 17.4 million people who voted leave represent the largest number of votes ever cast for a single political option in British history.
And yet, 10 years on, Andy Burnham, as it seems all but certain that he will be the one to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, has said he wants to see the United Kingdom back in the European Union.
Make no mistake, this is not something he has said a number of years ago that has been yanked out of context.
This is something he said only recently at a Labour Party conference.
So, it seems we will shortly have an unelected Prime Minister who wants to reverse the biggest democratic mandate in British history without any say from the public.
Nobody voted for this, it would be a betrayal of our democracy.
The Labour MPs in Parliament seem to think that Andy Burnham is popular, but I think when people start discovering his politics, they will find that he is just as unlikeable as Starmer, if not, more so.
We need a General Election now – our country cannot wait until 2029.
Reform UK is the only party that has called on Keir Starmer's successor to call a General Election.