EUROPE is now bedevilled by the rise of the far right. The racist marchers and street fighters came first, but in many cases now they are now also a political force, with significant parliamentary representation and even places in government.

Anyone who claims that Britain is immune from this process has not been paying attention. On the contrary, the current political trends here are all pointing in the same direction. Unless there is a conscious and determined effort to stop it, it will happen here, and quite soon.

Yet there have been widespread assertions that Britain is a beacon of hope against the rising tide if the right and far right. That was rather undermined when Keir Starmer recently went to visit to the Italian prime minister, whose own party used to describe themselves as “neofascist.”

Of course, any British prime minister has to deal with all sorts of unsavoury characters. But the visit was specifically to discuss immigration policy; Giorgia Meloni’s not Keir Starmer’s. At the same time, it could be argued that this meeting was only copying what Rishi Sunak had done. But that is the point. Sunak was leading a failed party, desperately clinging to office by getting into the gutter with Reform UK.

This is effectively a case of pandering to the far-right agenda, which does not undercut their support but will boost it and embolden them further.

But it is not simply international trends which provide cause for concern about the resurgence of the far right. After Tony Blair, there was not a surge to the left. There was austerity. After Harold Wilson and James Callaghan there was Margaret Thatcher.

For the time being Labour’s parliamentary majority looks unassailable. The Tories were routed because they won just 24 per cent of the vote. But our own vote was only 10 points greater than that. And in the two most recent national polls we were just 4 points better than the Tories.

The real risk is that popular dissatisfaction with the political direction of the government will be the main driving force behind a recovery and/or regroupment of the right and far right. Co-operation between those forces is already happening in Spain and France (to keep the left out), and is long-established in Italy. In Germany the government parties (including the SPD) simply echo what the far right says and still wonder why they continue to sink in the polls.

The issue most likely to cause widespread political dissatisfaction with the government here is the economy. But here, the government mantra that “things will only get worse” is almost designed to fuel the far right. More austerity is unlikely to work any better this time around and will fall heaviest on the poorest and most vulnerable, exactly as the belated publication of the assessment of cutting the winter fuel allowance shows.

Politically, economic stagnation or worse is the ideal breeding ground for the far right. Of course, they do not blame those responsible for austerity, or its beneficiaries, but instead literally attack black people and Muslims, asylum-seekers and “others” in general. Their grievances are against the poor and the oppressed, so there is nothing legitimate about them at all.

The government’s big idea is that deregulation of the planning system around home-building will spur growth. There is a very large monument to planning and housing deregulation in Ladbroke Grove called Grenfell Tower. But it is simply not feasible that home-building by itself could significantly lift GDP. Both the sector and the anticipated effect of any deregulation are simply too small to decisively boost GDP.  

Ministers, including the Prime Minister, have spelled out that there will be no new public money to achieve their ambitions. There will be cuts.

We are left hoping that the economy will come good of its own accord, something it has largely failed to do over 14 years, all while it will struggle with much more austerity, as Wes Streeting says.

There are other reasons to be concerned about the growth of the far right. The election of a Labour government was the immediate catalyst for racist and far-right rioting. But the government refuses to call it by its right name, and continues to pander to their agenda, hence the demonstrative meeting with Meloni.

The threat of the far right has not gone away, far from it. They are being appeased. Rwanda may be replaced with Albania, which is to change the location for a failed policy, not its content.

On the other side, Britain is engaged in and supports one deeply unpopular war in Palestine and is wholeheartedly committed to another, in Ukraine, that now has a very uncertain outcome. We have had the ridiculous spectacle of a British Prime Minister pressing for long-range missiles to be used against targets deep inside Russia, only to be brushed aside by the US president, who currently regards it as far too reckless.

Many commentators have already pointed out the contradiction of claiming “there is no money left” when it comes to public services and welfare, and yet promising £3 billion a year for the Ukraine war “for as long as it takes.” This money for war could pay for both the winter fuel allowance and free school meals, with money left over.

In one sense, it is quite remarkable how quickly a string of other issues has emerged to undermine the government’s standing, from questions of competence, to infighting, to charges of corruption. In addition, every retreat on the urgency of tackling climate change will see more votes leaking to the Greens, while any backtracking on trade union rights will see more of our core vote stay at home, as they clearly did at the last election. Gaza remains a stain on this government, which it may never remove.

No-one on the left, or in the labour movement should welcome any of these developments. Falling Labour support and Keir Starmer’s own plunging popularity are causes of regret, and even alarm.

As already noted, we did not begin this government with a huge popular surge for Labour and the right are already regrouping. It is certain the Tories will choose a much more right-wing leadership than the last. Reform UK aims to strike deeper roots across the country. 

All of this spells serious trouble for the communities they target and for the labour movement as a whole. Naturally, we must do everything we can to stop it.

Diane Abbott is Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.