Corbyn has a big ego and his new party will fail, claims Reeves

Telegraph

3 days ago

Rachel Reeves has accused Jeremy Corbyn of having a 'big ego' and insists his new Left-wing party does not present a threat to Labour.
The Chancellor said voters had resoundingly rejected the veteran socialist twice and 'will have the same reaction' again at the next election.
At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Saturday, she also acknowledged a 'risk' voters would turn to Reform because of anger with the two main parties.
Mr Corbyn, who led Labour to election defeats in 2017 and 2019, is setting up a new populist movement to challenge his old party from the Left.
It is also being fronted by Zarah Sultana, a fellow former Labour MP, and is set to campaign heavily on Gaza and calls for more wealth taxes.
Ms Reeves, who was interviewed by Iain Dale, the radio presenter, was asked whether she was worried that the new party represented a threat to Labour akin to the problem the Tories face with Reform.
She said: 'Jeremy Corbyn had two chances to be prime minister and the country gave their verdict, most recently in 2019 when Labour had its worst result since 1935.
'If he wants to give it another go, be my guest. I think the voters will have the same reaction.'
Asked by Dale if she was being complacent, she replied: 'It's not being complacent. He tried to destroy my party, he can have himself his own party.
'The country has rejected him twice. The bloke's got a big ego. He can have another go but I think the country will give the same verdict.'
Her remarks came a day after Labour lost its first councillor to the new Corbyn party, which does not yet have a name or official leadership.
Grace Lewis, a 22-year-old who sits on Coventry city council, resigned from Labour on Friday to join the rival Left-wing political movement.
It has a placeholder name of Your Party, and is expected to hold its founding conference, at which a formal leadership contest could happen, in November.
Last month, a YouGov poll found that almost one in three Labour supporters would consider voting for Mr Corbyn's new movement at the next election.
Ms Reeves also admitted during the interview that Labour has 'disappointed' people so far and will not 'deserve' to win re-election if it does not improve.
She insisted she had the balance right between tax, spending and borrowing but said achieving that had forced her to make unpopular decisions.
'Our job is to deliver on promises'
She added: 'Of course you're going to disappoint people. No one wants to pay more taxes.
'Everyone wants more money... and borrowing is not a free option, because you've got to pay for it.
'I think people know those sort of constraints, but no one really likes them and I'm the one that has to sort the sums.'
She admitted that there was a possibility that voters who were fed up with both Labour and the Tories would turn to Reform as an alternative.
'That is the risk and so our job is to deliver on the promises we made in our manifesto but also to show when we're making decisions who we're prioritising,' she said.
'That we're always prioritising the ordinary, working person on a modest and middle income who have been battered by cost of living challenges the last few years.
'Who haven't found their wages keeping up with inflation, when they want to see a doctor they can't get an appointment, when they're on a hospital waiting list they're on it for months.
'We need to show that things can be different, and if we don't address those things not only will we not win again, we won't deserve to win again.
'Because people voted for change and it's our job to deliver it.'