Reeves claims there is no ‘credible alternative’ to Starmer
Chancellor urges Labour MPs to ‘stick to the plan’ amid growing backbench anger
Rachel Reeves has claimed there is “no credible alternative” to Sir Keir Starmer.
The Chancellor also urged Labour MPs to “stick to the plan” amid growing anger among backbenchers over the performance of the Government.
The Prime Minister has now overseen almost a dozen about-turns on major policies in just 18 months in office, while Reform UK continues to enjoy a comfortable lead over Labour in the polls.
Sir Keir’s Labour critics see local, Scottish and Welsh elections in May as a moment of danger for his leadership.
However, in an interview with ITV’s Peston, Ms Reeves dismissed a question about how long Sir Keir could survive by arguing that nobody else could lead the Labour Party.
She told the programme: “This Government has got a plan to turn round the economy. We are reducing the cost of living, taking money off energy bills, prescription charges and rail fares.
“Last year, we were expected to have the second-fastest growth in the G7 and, in an unstable world, this Government is delivering the stability, and investment and reform, that is needed.
“Keir got a massive landslide just a year-and-a-half ago. We’re delivering on our plan. I can’t see a credible alternative from anyone else. We stick to the plan, we’ll see the benefits.”
Asked whether the “Starmer-Reeves duo” was “here to stay”, Ms Reeves replied: “We are.”
Ms Reeves has faced criticism after raising taxes by about £80bn over the course of her first two Budgets.
Earlier this week, Sir Keir was accused by some of his own MPs of making them “look really stupid” after he watered down plans for mandatory digital ID.
The reversal of the flagship policy came after other about-turns on the winter fuel allowance, disability benefit cuts and a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Streeting: I don’t want to be PM
On Thursday, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, explicitly claimed that he did not want to become prime minister after months of speculation.
Last year, Mr Streeting dismissed “juvenile” briefings from Downing Street that claimed he wanted to challenge Sir Keir for the Labour leadership.
Allies of Sir Keir had insisted that he would fight any challenges in a series of briefings to journalists that singled out the Health Secretary as a potential successor.
Asked by Sky News whether he wanted to be prime minister, Mr Streeting initially declined to answer.
He said: “I’ve already got a leadership role. I’m leading the biggest public service in the world in the biggest corner of the British state. And we’re making a real difference.”
However, when asked for a second time, Mr Streeting responded: “No. I’m very happy doing the job that I’m doing, thank you very much and I’m really proud of the job we’re doing.
“I know there are lots of challenges, and I don’t want to dismiss the experiences of people watching who’ve had negative experiences to pretend they don’t exist or there isn’t far more to do than we’ve already done.
“But just to give people that sign of hope at a time when people are despairing and sliding into fatalism and questioning whether voting changes anything or makes any difference, on New Year’s Day, we had the largest volume of 999 calls in the history of the NHS.
“And ambulances arrived 15 minutes faster on average than the same time last year. Lots done, lots more to do, change has begun, and the best is still to come.”
