One U-turn every three months - a closer look at Labour's rowbacks in office

The first 18 months of Labour in power have seen more than a dozen U-turns.

From welfare cuts to a climbdown on inheritance tax for farmers, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves appear to have gone back on several manifesto pledges and promises made before they were elected. As the government made its latest U-turn on mandatory digital ID cards for workers, Sky News is looking at some of the biggest U-turns Labour has made since coming into power.

Grooming gangs A central government-led inquiry into child sexual abuse in Oldham, requested by the council, was originally declined. Tech billionaire Elon Musk launched a series of online attacks on Sir Keir and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips over that decision - going as far as calling Ms Phillips a "witch" who should go to prison.

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch joined in, calling for a national probe. The prime minister resisted calls for an inquiry for months.

But in June 2025, Sir Keir announced he would follow the recommendation of Baroness Casey to hold another inquiry into grooming gangs. How the government measures debt In her budget in 2024, Ms Reeves changed the fiscal rules on how the government measures debt, allowing up to £50bn of extra borrowing.

This was welcomed by many, but it wasn't in Labour's election manifesto. Back then, Ms Reeves talked more about her iron discipline with the fiscal rules.

"But I can confirm today that we will be measuring debt differently," she said in October 2024, ahead of the budget. Trans rightsAfter the Supreme Court's ruling on the legal definition of a woman in April 2025, Sir Kier seemed to change his previous stance on trans rights.

While in opposition, he said "a woman is a female adult, and in addition to that, trans women are women, and that is not just my view, that is actually the law". After the ruling, he simply said "a woman is a female adult, and the court has made that absolutely clear".

Two-child benefit capThe cap, which was hugely unpopular among most Labour MPs, was first introduced by the Conservative government in 2017. The limit prevented parents from claiming universal credit or tax credits for more than their first two children.

Ms Reeves announced that the two-child cap would be scrapped from April, a move the OBR estimates will cost £3bn by 2029-30. The government says the move will lift 450,000 children out of poverty by the end of the Parliament, while Ms Badenoch branded Ms Reeves's autumn choices "a budget for Benefits Street, paid for by working people".

State pension age - Waspi Women compensation In December 2024, the government said it would not be compensating millions of women who lost out through the changes to the state pension age. This is despite Sir Keir and Ms Reeves supporting the campaign for the Women Against State Pension Inequality - often known as Waspi women - when they were in opposition.

The prime minister defended the decision, saying: "I do understand, of course, the concern of the Waspi women, but also of course I have to take into account whether it's right at the moment to impose further burden on the taxpayer, which is what it would be." Sir Keir also said the demands of the Waspi women were not affordable. It came after Liz Kendall, then work and pensions secretary, issued an apology for a 28-month delay in sending out letters to those born in the 1950s impacted by state pension changes.

But she said she doesn't accept that compensation should be paid, adding that the "great majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing" and that a state-funded payout wouldn't be "fair or value for taxpayers' money". In November 2025, the possibility of U-turning this original U-turn was raised when it was announced that the decision to reject compensation would, in fact, be reconsidered by the government.

Winter fuel payment cuts Dropping the benefit for all pensioners was one of the first things Labour did in government, despite it not being in their manifesto and on top of Labour, when in opposition, attacking the Tories when reports emerged that they were considering such a move. The change meant only those on pension credit or other benefits were eligible - a deeply unpopular move that was widely blamed on the party's poor performance in last year's local elections.

But Sir Keir announced a U-turn on the unpopular cut to the benefit last May, with Ms Reeves later clarifying that winter fuel payments would extend to everyone over the state pension age with an income of £35,000 a year or below. The Treasury said that by setting the threshold at this income, more than three-quarters of pensioners - around nine million people - will benefit.

The universal system meant some 11.4 million pensioners were in receipt of the benefit, which was slashed down to 1.5 million when the initial means test was introduced. The new threshold is above the income level of pensioners in poverty and broadly in line with average earnings, the Treasury said.

Benefit cuts Last June, Sir Keir faced a significant rebellion over plans to cut sickness and disability benefits as part of a package he said would shave £5bn off the welfare bill and get more people into work. He stood by his position that the welfare system needs reform as "it doesn't work, and it traps people.