A new era of ‘minimal social democracy’? Comparing UK Labour under Keir Starmer

Abstract This article examines the policy and ideological orientation of Keir Starmer’s Labour government following its landslide victory at the 2024 UK General Election. Through a comparative analysis with five recent centre-left governments: Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Spain and Australia, the article assesses whether Starmer’s Labour represents a new or distinctive form of Social Democracy. Using Manifesto Project data and thematic analysis of Labour’s 2024 Change manifesto data, this paper maps Starmer’s Labour positioning within the broader centre-left. In our analysis, Starmer’s Labour reflects a cautious, technocratic form of ‘labourism’, aligning most closely with the Australian and New Zealand Labour parties. While Starmer’s Labour is interventionist in some policy domains, it stops short of the more redistributive and expansive ambitions as seen in some of its sister centre-left parties. While there are emerging features of a ‘new era’ of social democracy, especially in climate and public ownership policies, these are moderated by economic orthodoxy and political caution. This reflects a contemporary centre-left characterised by different forms of ‘minimal social democracy’, shaped by pressures from long-standing neoliberal constraints.