[Editorial] Starmer’s collapse after failing on livelihoods should serve as a warning to us too

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially announced his resignation on the 22nd, two years after taking office. The political leader who had brought Labour Party to a landslide victory in last year’s general election and ended 14 years of Conservative rule ultimately stepped down after a crushing defeat in local elections and mounting anger over high prices. Starmer’s departure should not be seen merely as the failure of one politician. Since Brexit, the United Kingdom has gone through a decade of turmoil, with six prime ministers changing from David Cameron to Starmer.
Even as governments changed, people’s livelihoods did not improve. Growth engines kept weakening, public services deteriorated, and fiscal room was steadily exhausted. Brexit was packaged as a political slogan about restoring sovereignty, but in reality it imposed the costs of trade barriers, weaker investment, labor shortages, and slower productivity. Voters who had chosen Starmer longed for change in the United Kingdom, but they turned away without hesitation when faced with a reality that had not changed. Starmer’s resignation should be understood as a product of the country’s structural fatigue.
This exhaustion is not unique to the United Kingdom. Germany, another heart of Europe, is also trapped in a similar tunnel of pain. Germany was once a manufacturing powerhouse, an export giant, and a model of fiscal soundness. But excessive dependence on Russian energy, along with slowing demand in China, delays in the shift to electric vehicles, and excessive regulation and bureaucracy, all combined to hold it back. It has also failed to stand out in the race for artificial intelligence. Germany once achieved overwhelming success in precision manufacturing and the automotive industry, but that old formula no longer works in the age of a major AI upheaval.
France is not much different. It has strengths in nuclear power, tourism, and the cultural industries, but high public spending, fiscal deficits, and social conflict over pension reform are serious burdens. What is interesting is that southern European countries, once symbols of Europe’s fiscal crisis, are now showing signs of a turnaround. Greece and Italy were once called the PIIGS and seen as the weak links of the Eurozone, but they have improved their fundamentals through harsh restructuring and fiscal discipline. That stands in contrast to Europe’s leading powers, whose global standing has weakened because of excessive welfare and failed reform.
Britain’s repeated prime ministerial changes and Europe’s diverging trends offer important lessons for South Korea’s economy as well. Populism and political slogans cannot replace economic performance. We also need to remember once again that clinging to industries that once succeeded can quickly cost a country its lead.
Our economy is now riding a powerful tailwind from the semiconductor boom. With the opening of the AI era, demand for High Bandwidth Memory and advanced semiconductors has surged, and exports and the stock market have heated up around Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The world is paying attention to South Korean semiconductors again. Growth forecasts are also improving thanks to semiconductors. But we must take a hard look at whether this boom is truly leading to a broader transformation of the South Korean economy.
Corporate earnings and stock prices are soaring for semiconductor firms, but the mood among the self-employed, small and medium-sized businesses, young people, and ordinary households remains cold. The stock market and real estate are running hot, yet wages, jobs, and housing stability are not keeping pace. An economy that relies only on semiconductors could collapse under unexpected risks. It could be hit hard by the global technology cycle, U.S.-China tensions, and supply chain restructuring.
We need extraordinary efforts to raise competitiveness across the industrial spectrum, including batteries, biotechnology, robots, the defense industry, nuclear power plants, content, and materials, parts, and equipment. The longer reform is delayed, the greater the cost and the heavier the price. Britain’s failure shows this clearly. We must now devote our full energy to structural reform and industrial restructuring for balanced growth.