DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Selfish Labour puts the country at risk

Published: 00:17, 16 May 2026 | Updated: 01:03, 16 May 2026 Labour's absurd psychodrama is placing Britain in great peril. A week after the local election results verified just how much it is despised by the electorate, the Government has ceased to be a functioning entity. Up to this point, Sir Keir Starmer was running a Government without a clue. Now, after this cataclysmic implosion, he is the mere figurehead of a Government without a hope. The implications for every man, woman and child in this country are dire.  Despairing financial markets observe the Government and see only uncertainty and risk, resulting in higher public borrowing costs.  Global investors make the same conclusions, leading them to walk away and put their money into countries that are better led. This vainglorious battle for the Labour leadership will further suppress an already moribund economy. It risks costing the taxpayer countless billions in interest payments on spiralling national debt and pumping up their mortgage costs. Such is the economic incompetence within Labour's ranks that they fail to understand – or wantonly ignore – the very basics of how public finances operate. The battle for the Labour's leadership risks costing the taxpayer countless billions in interest payments on national debt and pumping up mortgage costs Sir Keir Starmer's rival, Andy Burnham has repeatedly bemoaned how Britain is 'in hock to the bond markets' The Great Pretender Andy Burnham has repeatedly bemoaned how Britain is 'in hock to the bond markets'. And then this week one of his cheerleaders, Paula Barker MP, suggested the 'bond markets will have to fall into line' under a reshaped and 'progressive' Labour Government. There is only one way to avoid being in thrall to the financial markets: borrowing less money. Yet Labour only wants to spend, spend, spend. The key case in point is how the illusory legislative plan set out in the King's Speech this week promised no changes to the rocketing welfare bill, which already stands at a mind-boggling £333billion a year. Starmer has proved himself too timid to take on his backbenchers over this issue, and any successor would complete the transformation of the Labour Party into the Welfare Party. Worse still, a by-election involving Burnham will turn into a messy General Election-by-proxy, giving the markets even more time to take fright.  And if he fails to win a parliamentary seat – a strong possibility given Reform's polling – it would set off a chain reaction of confusion, panicking investors even more at the prospect of Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband in No 10.  This is not what the electorate believed it was voting for at the 2024 election. Unforgivably, the country faces being rudderless for months while Labour continues its feckless in-fighting, followed by an unwanted, anti-democratic turn to the hard Left. Britain is being betrayed by this fickle and faithless Government. Like so many of Labour's promises, the much-heralded 'reset' of the human rights convention is only a mirage. Last year, the Prime Minister vowed to 'look again' at how the treaty is used to block the deportation of foreign criminals and asylum seekers.  But a text signed by all 46 signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights yesterday has been roundly condemned as a waste of time that will make no practical difference. Judges – both at home and in Strasbourg – are sure to continue idolising the treaty's original text, which remains unchanged. As the Conservatives and Reform so rightly affirm, the only way to alleviate the treaty's corrosive effects is to ditch it altogether. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. PROFESSOR MARK GALEOTTI: How Ukraine has turned the tables and is slowly winning the war - thanks to groundbreaking drone attacks that are now weakening Putin every day...