Keir Starmer has it all wrong on mental health policy

Unsurprisingly, it’s a Keir Starmer original. Not the greatest fan of his earlier work, I hardly find myself aghast that his latest offering feels somewhat lacklustre.

Last Thursday, our very own son of a “toolmaker” tweeted: “Labour’s first steps for growth will deliver 8500 new mental health workers to support people back to work.”

Mental health is a classic big hitter for the career politicians, as there is such a huge social movement in support of development in the sector – and rightly so given that the prevalence of mental health difficulty in poverty-stricken Britain is through the roof.

But politicians love to employ it to their advantage, while simultaneously consistently failing to deliver. It’s one of the most prevalent examples of political dishonesty there is – we can almost guarantee it will be kicked around like a football come every election time.

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There’s a placeholder in every party manifesto for it before an election has even been called.

This is of course no different, and while attempting to smash a top line, Starmer has inadvertently told on himself in black and white.

What he hopes is that the focus will remain on that 8500 figure, because – and I am about to do something entirely out of character and agree with him – the addition of mental health support in any capacity is undeniably a good thing.

Even if that figure is somewhat ambiguous given that the definition of a “mental health worker” could be interpreted as a number of different things, and all of which require specialist training that takes time and adequate funding.

However, this policy in particular is a plainly regressive one parading as progressive, not an uncommon occurrence for the current Labour leader, but perhaps one of the more sinister examples of it.

Emphasis on current.

My immediate thought here, before even unpacking the dishonesty of this policy, is that the addition of mental health support should not be for the sole reason of getting people back into work – a point I would hope for most, or for anyone with a shred of compassion or decency, is not a controversial one.

Any addition to mental health services should be focused on precisely that and that alone – the mental health and wellbeing of the country. Supporting people to be well and providing vital healthcare to people in need.

Mental health support is not some kind of Super Mario charge-up for the economy – to treat it as such is so far past the dystopian line that it makes me feel like throwing the towel in. We are truly lost.

Remember we are talking about this in the context of the undeniable mental health crisis right across the UK. Just recently, the Office of National Statistics released figures that placed the prevalence of suicide in England at it’s highest in 25 years.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why, following a mishandled pandemic, a Tory-made cost of living crisis, a disastrous Brexit – it’s the direct consequence of bad, sticking plaster, ideological, top-line policy that fails the very people it purports to deliver for.

Frankly, Britain is miserable – and to anyone who has paid any attention to the political disaster of consecutive Tory governments – it is plain to see why.

Quality of life in the UK has been steadily declining for years, before taking a particularly sharp and biting decline of late. And it has been done willingly, and purposefully to benefit the select few.

The answer to it though, is not to treat those who are suffering exclusively as cogs in our economic machine. It is chilling, and I think a good indicator of what we can expect from a Labour government, that a man that could very well be taking up residence in Number 10 in a mere couple of weeks has such little capacity for compassion even for his own people.

If his only interest in the wellness and recovery of those in Britain struggling with their mental health as a result of the dire straits this Union finds itself in, is how quickly and resolutely we can get them back into the workforce, then I am afraid, as a leader, he is lost before the starting whistle has even been blown.

We are politically in the trenches across these islands, and I think one of the biggest reasons for it is that our politics very rarely cuts to the heart of the issues our communities are facing.

Politicians present what I often refer to as “sticking plaster policy” that probably sounds like it does a lot, but in effect will do nothing other than plaster over the issue – leaving us all vulnerable to it once again when the plaster inevitably comes away. This is a poetic example of it.

If Starmer (below) was genuinely interested in the mental health and wellbeing of the people he hopes to represent, he would be looking at the labour market – he would be advocating for better working practices, a living wage that accurately reflects the economic conditions of country and better work-life balance.

(Image: PA)

He would be looking to the end of austerity, to the end of reliance on food banks.

He would be looking at his constituents as multi-faceted human beings rather than placing their value solely in their ability to produce, while holding their needs hostage to the end goal of their increased productivity.

Mental health is not an easy policy area to get right, but getting it wrong has devastating consequences and lazy ideas like this that are rooted in misplaced intentions are not going to cut it.

It requires a holistic approach that not only recognises, but takes accountability for, the real reasons this country is faced with such a mental health crisis – the successive failures of self-serving governments, who routinely repackage the blame and responsibility for the mess that they have made onto those they are supposed to serve.

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Instead of embodying what it actually means to be a leader – making hard but cutting policy decisions and leading the country forward for the greater good – we are surrounded by a cowardly politics that is too scared to make the radical moves we need to make to get ourselves out of the hole we find ourselves in.

Politicians too concerned with their own personal aspirations to rock the boat, even if for the better. Who spend their time rehearsing lines instead of researching good policy. A cowardice that is sure to cement us for another five years in this insufferable cycle of political ineptitude.

It is all rather drab.