Latest news with #RedWallMPs
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer is ‘missing in action', say his own MPs
Sir Keir Starmer is 'missing in action' after last week's local election disaster, Labour MPs have claimed. The Prime Minister has been accused of dodging angry backbenchers in the wake of Labour's string of defeats to Reform UK, with one MP arguing that the party currently has 'no leader'. Sir Keir is facing mounting pressure from within Labour ranks to change direction after losing nearly 200 councillors and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on May 4. Dozens of Red Wall MPs have joined a rebellion against his controversial winter fuel cuts, while around 40 of his own MPs have warned that the Prime Minister's welfare reforms are 'impossible to support'. Sir Keir has also been urged to change course on immigration, with a leading MP in the socially conservative Blue Labour caucus warning it is 'now or never' to win back the working class. But rather than face disgruntled MPs at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Wednesday, Sir Keir sent Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to rally the troops. The senior Cabinet minister told MPs the party faces a 'generational' battle with Nigel Farage for the future of the UK after Reform's triumph at the local elections. One MP who was at the 'wash up' criticised the message and attacked the Prime Minister for skipping the meeting, telling The Telegraph: 'Where was Keir? Where the f--- was he? He's MIA.' They compared Sir Keir to David Brent, the hapless boss from the TV show The Office, saying: 'We have no leader. There's no one that can lead the party, no one that can come out and say, this is the direction, this is what we're going to do.' The MP said that Mr McFadden got 'absolutely rinsed' by angry colleagues as he urged them to take the fight to Reform, adding: 'It was just not even tone deaf, just deaf.' Another Labour MP accused Sir Keir of spending too much time on foreign policy while the party faces a crisis at the ballot box. The Prime Minister, who has previously been forced to defend his time spent abroad, was out of the country on Friday, just a week after the local election results. He was attending a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force, a group of 10 Nato nations, in Norway. He has also prioritised securing a trade deal with the US and 'resetting' the UK's relationship with the EU, as well as spearheading efforts to secure peace in Ukraine. Asked if they also got the sense he was 'missing in action', the MP said: 'He's too busy on foreign stuff. Everybody is saying the same.' In a call to action on Wednesday, Mr McFadden told Labour MPs: 'The big point I want to make to you is that a new fight is taking shape. 'It's a fight between our values and a nationalist politics of the Right. It's a battle for the very future and the heart and soul of our country.' He added: 'Labour is always at its best when we look to the future. This is the fight of our lives, this is the generational fight in this new political era. 'I want to tell you we have to take on this new fight for the future - and we have to win.' Not everyone was convinced, with one backbencher telling The Telegraph: 'You don't spend nine months telling people that your opponents are right, and then ask them not to vote for them.'
Sky News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says
Red Wall MPs should push for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted rather than a reversal of the winter fuel payment policy, Baroness Harriet Harman has said. Baroness Harman, the former Labour Party chair, told Sky's Electoral Dysfunction podcast that this would hand the group a "progressive win" rather than simply "protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer" over winter fuel. Earlier this week, a number of MPs in the Red Wall - Labour's traditional heartlands in the north of England - reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership's response to the local elections had "fallen on deaf ears". They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing doing so "isn't weak, it takes us to a position of strength". Labour's decision to means test the policy has snatched the benefit away from millions of pensioners. The cap, announced in 2015 as part of Lord David Cameron's austerity measures, means while parents can claim child tax credit or Universal Credit payments for their first and second child, they can't make claims for any further children they have. Labour faced pressure to remove the cap in the early months of government, with ministers suggesting in February that they were considering relaxing the limit. Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby that this could be a sensible pressure point for Red Wall MPs to target. She said: "It could be that they have a kind of progressive win, and it might not be a bad thing to do in the context of an overall strategy on child poverty. "Let's see whether instead of just protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer, they can build a bridge to a new progressive set of policies." Jo White, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and a member of the Red Wall group, suggested that her party's "connection" to a core group of voters "died" with the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners. "We need to reset the government," she told Electoral Dysfunction. "The biggest way to do that is by tackling issues such as winter fuel payments. "I think we should raise the thresholds so that people perhaps who are paying a higher level of tax are the only people who are exempt from getting it." A group of MPs in the Red Wall, thought to number about 40, met on Tuesday night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK. Following the results, Sir Keir said "we must deliver that change even more quickly - we must go even further". Some Labour MPs believe it amounted to ignoring voters' concerns. One of the MPs who was present at the meeting told Sky News there was "lots of anger at the government's response to the results". "People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep," they said. "There is a lack of vision from this government." Another added: "Everyone was furious."
Sky News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel payment U-turn, Harriet Harman says
Red Wall MPs should push for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted rather than a reversal of the winter fuel payment policy, Baroness Harriet Harman has said. Baroness Harman, the former Labour Party chair, told Sky's Electoral Dysfunction podcast that this would hand the group a "progressive win" rather than simply "protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer" over winter fuel. Earlier this week, a number of MPs in the Red Wall - Labour's traditional heartlands in the north of England - reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership's response to the local elections had "fallen on deaf ears". They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing doing so "isn't weak, it takes us to a position of strength". Labour's decision to means test the policy has snatched the benefit away from millions of pensioners. The cap, announced in 2015 as part of Lord David Cameron's austerity measures, means while parents can claim child tax credit or Universal Credit payments for their first and second child, they can't make claims for any further children they have. Labour faced pressure to remove the cap in the early months of government, with ministers suggesting in February that they were considering relaxing the limit. Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby that this could be a sensible pressure point for Red Wall MPs to target. She said: "It could be that they have a kind of progressive win, and it might not be a bad thing to do in the context of an overall strategy on child poverty. "Let's see whether instead of just protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer, they can build a bridge to a new progressive set of policies." Jo White, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and a member of the Red Wall group, suggested that her party's "connection" to a core group of voters "died" with the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners. "We need to reset the government," she told Electoral Dysfunction. "The biggest way to do that is by tackling issues such as winter fuel payments. "I think we should raise the thresholds so that people perhaps who are paying a higher level of tax are the only people who are exempt from getting it." A group of MPs in the Red Wall, thought to number about 40, met on Tuesday night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK. Following the results, Sir Keir said "we must deliver that change even more quickly - we must go even further". Some Labour MPs believe it amounted to ignoring voters' concerns. One of the MPs who was present at the meeting told Sky News there was "lots of anger at the government's response to the results". "People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep," they said. "There is a lack of vision from this government." Another added: "Everyone was furious."
Sky News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Red Wall Labour MPs urge Sir Keir Starmer to 'act' over winter fuel change 'before it's too late'
Red Wall Labour MPs are demanding ministers "act now before it's too late" and reverse the unpopular cut to winter fuel payments. A number of MPs in the Red Wall - the term used to describe Labour's traditional heartlands in the north of England - reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership's response to the local elections had "fallen on deaf ears". They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing that doing so "isn't weak, it takes us to a position of strength". The group, thought to number about 40 MPs, met last night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour narrowly lose the Runcorn by-election, as well as control of Doncaster Council, to Reform. In addition, Nigel Farage's party picked up more than 650 councillors and won control of 10 councils in Labour strongholds such as Durham. 👉Listen to Politics At Sam And Anne's on your podcast app👈 Although Labour narrowly held on to mayoralties in Doncaster and the West of England, it lost control of Doncaster Council - the only local authority it had control of in this set of elections - to Mr Farage's party, which also gained its own mayors in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire. The MPs said the poll was the "big test for the prime minister" but that the party's voters had "told us loudly and clearly that we have not met their expectations". Following the results, Sir Keir Starmer said the message he was taking away from the results was that "we must deliver that change even more quickly. We must go even further." His response has drawn an angry reaction from some Labour MPs who believe it amounted to ignoring voters' concerns. One of the MPs who was present at last night's meeting told Sky News there was "lots of anger at the government's response to the results". "People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep. There is a lack of vision from this government, and residents don't see it." Another added: "Everyone was furious". 3:02 Elsewhere in the statement, the MPs urged the party leadership to "visit our areas, listen and rebuild the social contract between government and the people". "The prime minister has shown strong leadership internationally, which must now be matched at home," the statement read. "The demands raised by new MPs from post-industrial towns where infrastructure is poor, with years of underinvestment, must be taken off the too-difficult-to-do list. Breakaway from Treasury orthodoxy, otherwise we will never get the investment we desperately need." It added: "The government needs to improve its messaging by telling our story and articulating our values in the language that resonates and is heard. "Labour cannot afford to lose the Red Wall again as it reopens the route to a future of opposition and an existential crisis. Without red wall communities, we are not the Labour Party. "The government has to act now before it's too late." The government has also drawn criticism for the winter fuel policy from outside Westminster. On Tuesday, Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan called for the cuts to winter fuel allowance to be reviewed in a landmark speech. However, Downing Street has ruled out a U-turn on means testing the winter fuel payment. The prime minister's official spokesman said: "The policy is set out, there will not be a change to the government's policy." They added that the decision was necessary "to ensure economic stability and repair the public finances following the £22bn black hole left by the previous government".
