here are still a couple of months to go. There are hustings to be held, nominations to be counted, and countless red flags to be flown. But the bookies have already decided it is a done deal. By the spring, Keir Starmer will be the next leader of the Labour Party. True, against Rebecca Long-Bailey he may look like a moderate. But, as we discovered this week, Starmernomics is every bit as bonkers as Corbynomics ever was. In the last week, he published ten pledges as old-fashioned, backward-looking, anti-business and statist as anything Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell ever came up with. From sweeping nationalisation to an extension of union power and big tax increases, it amounts to a decisive shift towards socialism and away from a free market. Worse, it is cloaked in an aura of political plausibility. Corbyn never came close to power. Starmer might, and that makes him far more threatening to the economy. Rebecca Long-Bailey’s finely tuned impersonation of a blonde Dalek on tranquilizers has meant even the backing of Momentum has failed to secure her much support, leaving the field wide open for the articulate, smart and presentable former shadow Brexit secretary. Starmer is well ahead in nominations from constituency parties and in the few polls of the membership that have been carried out. The bookmakers have him at 1 to 7 on to win (with Long-Bailey on 17-2 against). There is more chance of Liverpool blowing the Premier League title than Starmer losing this contest. On the surface, most investors and businesses will be relieved. The Conservatives have a secure majority for the next five years and Boris Johnson looks strong enough to win two terms at least. But the political pendulum always swings, and sooner or later the Labour Party will be back. Most of us would far prefer it was led by a responsible, intelligent social democrat in the mould of Tony Blair or Gordon Brown than a hard-Left socialist intent on ripping up the economy and driving companies to bankruptcy. With little radical baggage and his background as a Director of Public Prosecutions, Starmer certainly looks like the man to gradually make the party electable. The trouble is, that impression is deeply mis-leading. Starmer’s 10 pledges amount to a radical assault on an open, free and competitive economy. Take a small sample: He commits himself to extensive nationalisation, promising to “support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water”. He wants to increase trade union power, promising to “repeal the Trade Union Act” and to “oppose the weakening of workplace rights”. He pledges to “increase income tax for the top 5pc” and “reverse the Tories’ cuts in corporation tax”, which would presumably mean taking it back to 28pc, one of the highest rates in the developed world. It goes on and on. He is determined to get rid of any private sector involvement in public services. He wants to get rid of university tuition fees, despite the fact it would mainly benefit people who will be higher earners in future. He wants a regional “industrial strategy” – otherwise known as subsidies for failing industries in areas businesses have decided they don’t want to move to. And he is in favour of the much-touted “green new deal” which would involve a massive increase in state power over the economy, huge rises in public spending and punitive taxes, when all the evidence tells us the market is already replacing fossil fuels with greener, cheaper and more efficient technologies. It adds up to a radical assault on the economy on a scale not attempted in the developed world in 30 years. Starmer may be tacking Left to win the leadership, planning to move back towards the centre ground once he has secured control. Then again, maybe he really believes in all this. After all, over the last few years, he barely dissented from Labour’s economic plans. In truth, Starmer is far more of a threat to the economy than Corbyn ever was. It might not be this year, or next, but sooner or later the voters will tire of the Conservative Party – and if Starmernomics is the only alternative then that will be catastrophic.