Sir Keir Starmer has been told that no Labour seat is safe after the Tories gained a seat in a local council by-election.
The claim was made by Elliot Hammer, the Chairman of the Tottenham Conservative Association on X/Twitter following the news that Labour had lost the Crewe Central (Cheshire East) council by-election.
Writing on the social media platform, @BritainElects reported that the result was a Conservative gain from Labour.
In response, Mr Hammer wrote: “Tremendous victory @Conservatives Goes to show no Labour seat is safe. A whopping 18 percent drop in Labour’s vote share. A lot of people now saying Labour can’t win in GE 24.”
Local businessman Roger Morris took the seat in the Labour stronghold polling 335 votes, while strong favourite, Labour’s Kim Jamson received just 277.
A delighted Cllr Morris told the Local Democracy Reporting Service today (Friday): “It’s been a long hard journey but we’re absolutely ecstatic because of what we pulled off. There’s been a lot of teamwork.”
Mr Hammer also claimed that the Labour leader’s “flip flop £28 billion green spending” had had a “dire effect on Labour’s GE”.
Mr Hammer was referring to the news that Sir Keir Starmer had dropped Labour’s pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green spending.
Confirming the change, the Labour leader said that £23.7 billion would instead be spent over a five-year period.
In response to the news, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he doesn’t have a plan for Britain. The uncertainty about what a Labour government would do is a real risk to our country’s future.”
Mr Sunak added: “Labour’s pledge – in their own words – has a £28 billion price tag and now they have admitted there is no plan to pay for it. This will mean higher taxes for working people to fill Labour’s black hole.
“That’s why the choice this year is to stick with our plan that’s working or go back to square one with Labour which would put our country’s future at risk.”
Labour also received criticism from the BBC’s Charlie Stayt. Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Rachel Reeves was left squirming when the presenter reminded her of words she’d previously said about Labour’s £28billion pledge.
Mr Stayt said: “When we look back at your comments from 2021 when the pledge was made, I think people understand things change, but then we look at the words you used, I’ll just read them back to you, you’ll remember them well I’m sure.”
At the time Ms Reeves had said: “As chancellor, I will not shirk our responsibility to future generations. No dither, no delay. Labour will meet the challenge head-on and seize the opportunities of the green transition.”
Mr Stayt added: “Now what you just said to us is things change but it begs the question, why make that pledge which felt like it was set in cement, why make it if you’re prepared to turn back on it?”
Following his comments, Ms Reeves said: “I’m absolutely going to be the first green chancellor.”
To this, Mr Stayt replied: “Well you’re less of a green chancellor is the truth, you can’t have it both ways. It is an enormous change from where you were, it cannot be the same.”
While Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to scrap the pledge has been criticised from outside the party, some Labour politicians, such as the shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, still believe that Labour has strong green policies.
Responding to the recent news, Mr Miliband claimed Labour would be fighting the next general election with a “world-leading agenda on climate and energy with every single individual policy already announced now confirmed for the manifesto”.
