A senior Labour MP today delivered a withering assessment of Sir Keir Starmer‘s first year in power as she admitted ‘things just don’t seem to be working’.
Dame Emily Thornberry, a former shadow minister, hit out at the ‘mistakes’ made by the Prime Minister and accused her party’s leadership of ‘not listening’.
Sir Keir this weekend conducted a frantic reshuffle of his Government in the wake of Angela Rayner‘s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary.
Ms Rayner also quit as Labour’s deputy leader on Friday after her tearful admission that she didn’t pay enough tax on the purchase of her new flat.
It means Sir Keir faces the prospect of a bitter Labour deputy leadership contest happening at the same time as he tries to get his administration back on track.
Dame Emily, speaking to the BBC‘s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, this morning said she was considering a bid for the deputy leadership herself.
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham threw his support behind two former ministers who are allies of his and demanded a ‘reset’ of Sir Keir’s ‘London-centric’ administration.
Mr Burnham is a long-time rival of the PM who is frequently touted as a replacement for Sir Keir should he make a return to Westminster.
A senior Labour MP has delivered a withering assessment of Sir Keir Starmer’s first year in power as she admitted ‘things just don’t seem to be working’
Dame Emily Thornberry, a former shadow minister, hit out at the ‘mistakes’ made by the Prime Minister and accused her party’s leadership of ‘not listening’
Angela Rayner quit as Labour’s deputy leader on Friday after her tearful admission that she didn’t pay enough tax on the purchase of her new flat
Dame Emily said the PM’s first year in office had been a ‘mixed picture’ as she praised Sir Keir’s performance internationally, but suggested he was failing domestically.
‘It’s such a mixed picture isn’t it. We’re doing so well internationally and our standing is so much higher; we’re back on the international scene,’ she said.
‘But domestically things just don’t seem to be working. There are things we’re doing which are fantastic, but nobody seems to know about it.
‘The highest wage growth, building some homes, actually investing in green energy.
‘All of these sort of things are brilliant achievements, nobody seems to be hearing about that – they hear about the mistakes.’
Dame Emily, the chair of the House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee, warned Labour ‘can’t afford’ to keep making mistakes due to the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
‘We’ve gone from having a fantastic gift from the British public of a huge majority to now being at 20 per cent in the polls,’ she added.
‘And we will have in the next election the biggest fight of our lives coming, which is against Farage.
‘The last thing we want is to go from a position where it was thought we would be in for two terms to hand our country over to Farage.’
Dame Emily accused the Government of ‘not listening to people of goodwill who want the party to succeed’.
‘I think we need to do more of that because I think the answers are out there, but I think we need to continue to listen and learn from the public,’ she added.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham threw his support behind two former ministers who are allies of his and demanded a ‘reset’ of Sir Keir’s ‘London-centric’ administration
The Islington South and Finsbury MP revealed she was ‘thinking about’ a bid for Labour’s deputy leadership.
‘I’m thinking about it, it’s really a question of what I can bring to it,’ she said.
‘What’s important is what you bring; do you have the strengths, do you have the experience, can you actually make a difference. I’ve got to think about that.’
But Mr Burnham argued someone from his region should take on Labour’s deputy leadership from Ms Rayner to combat the ‘London centricity’ of the Government.
The Greater Manchester mayor tipped Louise Haigh, who quit as transport secretary in November over a fraud row, and Lucy Powell, who was sacked as Commons leader by Sir Keir on Friday, as possible candidates.
Both Ms Haigh and Ms Powell previously supported Mr Burnham in his unsuccessful bid to be Labour leader in 2015.
Mr Burnham told the BBC: ‘Obviously, I’m biased, but you know somebody from these parts I think would be great.
‘Louise Haigh, possibly Lucy Powell, who I think did a brilliant job in government.
‘I think that’s what it needs, you know, we need to hear the voice of the party, the voice of the members, and then the voice of our communities behind that, particularly in the north of England, to counter that London centricity.
‘And I just would say more broadly, I think it also needs to be a bit of a reset for the Government, you know, I wish the new Cabinet and the ministerial team well, and I’m here to support them and work with them.
‘But I do think, you know, there needs to be a reset of the way we’re doing things.
‘If the Government says it’s going to do something, it should just do it. It can’t be right that we’re still in negotiations about the Hillsborough law, for instance, that’s unfair, in my view, to the Hillsborough families.
‘You know, this is a moment to sort of like take a bit of stock, reset, and then as one Labour team, come back stronger.’
