This article explains why the UK prime minister, Richi Sunak, and the Labour opposition leader, Sir Kier Starmer, are having to play politics instead of debating and voting on policy issues which affect the lives of the UK electorate.

Although Sir Kier Starmer comes from a working-class background, his parents encouraged him to go to university and to fulfil his later ambitions to improve the lives of the ordinary people.

His difficulty, given that both main political parties are effectively in “campaigning mode” ahead of a general election, is that he cannot give details of his manifesto promises because they are likely to be “stolen” and implemented by the current government, in attempts to make them more electable, despite their poor showing in the opinion polls. They have already used this tactic in the last month or so.

It’s all about each party fighting to get into power, and getting the maximum number of seats in Parliament in order to be able to get their political ideas into legislation.

I should mention that Starmer’s wife is Jewish. Because Starmer has taken a stance against a ceasefire in Gaza and the occupied territories of the West Bank, it may be that he risks losing votes from pro-Palestinian voters. Many Labour councillors have already resigned from the Labour party in protest. Also, his not restoring the Labour whip to Dianne Abbott risks losing votes from Black communities, which are traditional Labour strongholds.

These issues will be discussed in more detail below.

A photo of Richi Sunak taken during Prime Minister’s Questions when he refused to condemn a Tory donor who had made racist remarks and issued threats to Dianne Abbott, a former Labour member in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister faced criticism from many of his backbenchers, as well as retired senior politicians of his own party. The Speaker of the House of Commons has also been implicated as he refused to call Dianne Abbott to speak, despite the entire debate being about the racial slurs and publicly made threats to her life.

Claims that Richi Sunak is out of touch, not only with his party, but also with ordinary people, are rampant on social media. Doubtless that is caused by his own wealth and that of his wife, being the heiress of an Indian multi-billionaire.

Again, the issues are complex, and we will deal with them in detail below.