From the NHS to new homes, Starmer’s successes and setbacks – in charts
The PM said in May that ‘stories beat spreadsheets’, but what does the data tell us about his time in office?
Keir Starmer is to step down as prime minister after just two years in office.
Despite promising an end to Conservative sleaze and scandal, much political bandwidth towards the end of his time in No 10 was taken up by the fallout surrounding his appointment as US ambassador of Peter Mandelson, who had a close relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In his resignation speech, Starmer listed some of the things he had delivered in government, before accepting he had to quit in good grace. The emphasis on delivery stood in contrast to his “last chance” speech in May, in which he said he needed to make more political arguments – not simply talk about what he was doing, but why he was doing it.
Starmer said in May that “stories beat spreadsheets”. But what stories do the spreadsheets tell about his time in office? The Guardian dives into the data to find the stories across several key policy areas.
Record fall in immigration
Immigration has been the dominant political topic of concern among voters under Starmer, particularly among Reform UK supporters and those over 55, according to Ipsos.
The figures, however, show net migration has fallen, mainly the result of fewer health and care visas being issued and fewer people entering through the Ukraine and Afghanistan humanitarian schemes, the latter now closed.
In a speech during his first year in No 10, Starmer announced a tightening of immigrations rules, including stricter English requirements, restrictions in worker and student visas, doubling the time to qualify for permanent residence and the “one in, one out” agreement with France to return people arriving in small boats. Fewer people have arrived by small boats in 2026 than in previous years.
The decline in immigration, however, does not seem to have taken the heat out of the issue. Research last summer from Prof Bobby Duffy at King’s College London found that 86% of people said there was a great or fair amount of tension between immigrants and people born in the UK – an increase from 74% in 2023, before Labour was elected.
The full impact of many of the policies that Starmer initiated remains to be seen, according to the University of Oxford’s migration observatory, but some projections suggest negative net migration is likely in 2027, which would hurt the economy.
NHS waiting times have turned a corner
In a major speech after six months in office, Starmer unveiled his plan to “deliver on our promise to end the backlogs”, promising that 92% of patients waiting for treatment would receive it within 18 weeks by spring 2029.
Latest NHS data shows that progress has been made. The number of people waiting more than 18 weeks fell by 21% in April 2026 compared with the same month in 2024 before Labour won the election. Overall, the elective waiting list fell from 7.6 million in 2024 to 7.2 million as of this April.
In the same speech, Starmer promised that at least 65% of patients would be treated within 18 weeks by March this year, a hurdle the NHS just cleared at 65.3%.
The government is also ahead of its target on cancer diagnosis waiting times, and close to its target on people being seen within four hours in A&E.
Other areas of health and social care are harder to judge. The former health secretary, Wes Streeting, delayed making any big decisions on social care funding, instead setting up an independent commission chaired by Louise Casey that will not report until 2028.
On GPs, the progress is mixed. More salaried GPs have been hired, but the number of partners – who run their own practice – has continued to fall.
A mixed picture on crime and justice
Prisons were already close to capacity when Starmer took office, and the 2024 summer riots caused further strain on the system. The government was also still dealing with a large backlog in the courts caused by the pandemic.
Labour has since overseen two large releases of prisoners: the early release scheme in September 2024, which led to a record weekly release of 2,188 prisoners; and the Sentencing Act 2026, which came into effect in April.
The government is still dealing with a large backlog in the courts, however, which has grown by 10% since the election.
As part of the king’s speech in May, the government announced a plan to reduce the number of jury trials by making certain crimes no longer “triable either way” by a judge or jury. Critics have argued that the changes risk undermining justice.
Crime levels have fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s, levelling off since 2023.
There has been progress in some types of crime. NHS figures show that the number of people admitted to hospital with stab wounds has continued to fall under Starmer.
But the post-pandemic rise in less serious crimes such as phone snatching and shoplifting continued until the end of 2024, and has remained broadly unchanged over the last year.
The ‘dream’ of 1.5m new homes
Starmer promised to “make the dream of home ownership a reality”with the delivery of 1.5m homes by the next parliament, which translates to 300,000 homes a year. After his government’s first 18 months, 300,000 homes had been added to the housing stock.
Labour has loosened planning rules on the housing market – including to categorise industrial green-belt land as “grey belt” to allow construction. The government has also introduced the Renters’ Right Act, which banned no-fault evictions, fixed-term tenancies and loopholes that allowed discrimination against families, pet owners and people on benefits.
Construction is hampered by a lack of planning applications and soaring costs. UK-produced brick prices have risen 80% in a decade, and sand and gravel prices by 30% since 2021. By February, the number of new planning applications was only half of what would be expected to build enough new houses to meet the 2030 target.
The ongoing housing crisis is particularly visible in social housing. The government allowed social landlords to increase rents by 8% in the first financial year Labour was in power, while the availability of these homes continues to fall because of the right to buy.
A surge in renewable energy
Renewable energy sources accounted for more than half of the UK’s electricity generation for the first time this year, outperforming fossil fuels even during winter.
Official data also shows a record in renewable energy projects approved under Labour with the capacity having tripled year on year.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, launched a plan in December 2024 to reach 95% clean power by 2030. To help achieve this, the government has ended a decade-long de facto ban on onshore wind in England, simplified planning rules to speed up local authority approvals and fast-tracked changes to clear a grid connection queue.
The UK currently has nearly 3,000 green energy projects able to produce more than 52 gigawatts of power at maximum capacity, and another 325 sites under construction.Solar panels surpassed 2m installations in March, the vast majority on home rooftops, official data shows.
Political turmoil
Since David Cameron in 2010-15, no prime minister has served a full term in government.
If the linear trend in prime ministerial term lengths since Margaret Thatcher were to continue, whoever succeeds Starmer would be expected to serve just 335 days in office – which would still be longer than Liz Truss.
Polling figures show that no prime minister since Tony Blair has had a net positive rating after a year in office, but Truss, Sunak and Starmer stand out for being significantly less popular than their predecessors at the same point.
Starmer has not quite hit the flood of ministers resigning that Boris Johnson and Theresa May eventually reached, but compared with both at this point in their premierships he has lost more than either of them. Whoever succeeds him will hope for more stability.
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