Labour’s growing civil war intensified on Sunday as a top politician accused Sir Keir Starmer of not listening to his own MPs enough. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the Government needs to “listen” to Labour politicians “more and respect them more”.
Mr Burnham criticised Number 10 for cracking down on Labour MPs who fought efforts to cut the winter fuel payments and benefits cuts, adding “I see good people, good MPs, losing the whip”. He compared it to previous administrations, under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, pointedly declaring “it did not happen in the Governments I was in”.
It comes as a potentially bruising election bid for Labour’s new Deputy Leader begins to ramp up, following the resignation of Angela Rayner on Friday.
Ms Rayner quit as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary after an official watchdog found she had broken the Ministerial Code by underpaying stamp duty on the purchase of a flat in Hove by up to £40,000.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I am concerned about the balance and, I think you know, we need to use the deputy leadership contest to discuss some of these things, actually not a running commentary on what the Government’s doing, I think we need to recognise that having a leadership contest for the deputy leader in a period of government, you don’t want everything sort of opened up on what the Government’s doing.
“But I think it is right to have a discussion about the internal management of the Labour Party.
“And in a time where the scale and the nature of the challenge we face is such as it is, you need everybody pulling together, all parts of the party pulling together. And that points to a party management style that is less factional and more pluralistic.
“Labour MPs need to be… they need to listen to them more and respect them more. You know, they were the ones who, if you like, caused the change in terms of winter fuel and disability benefits. But, you know, they shouldn’t be punished for that.
“I see good people, good MPs, losing the whip, people like Rachael Maskell, that doesn’t seem fair to me.
“It didn’t happen in the governments I was in, in Gordon Brown’s government or Tony Blair’s government.
“You know, we need a different style here, so that everyone is included and we pull together.”
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chairwoman of the influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee, added: “Domestically, things just don’t seem to be working.
“There are things which we are doing that are fantastic, but nobody seems to know about – the highest wage growth, building some homes, investing in green energy. All of these things are brilliant achievements.
“They hear about the mistakes. The question is, why are we making these mistakes? We can’t afford to keep doing this because we’ve gone from having the fantastic gift from the British public of a huge majority to now being at 20% in the polls.
“In the next election, we will have the biggest fight of our lives.”
Asked about Labour’s biggest mistakes during its first year in office, Ms Thornberry said: “I think it’s not listening.
“They are 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.”
Defence Secretary John Healey, defending the Government on Sunday morning, rejected claims of Number 10 failing to listen to Labour MPs.
He said: “I dispute that. Our focus has been on the public that elected us, the delivery that we’re charged to change their lives. It’s a big part of the job we all do.
“Our Government will miss Angela Rayner. She’s not been a victim. She’s been under a lot of pressure and Andy Burnham’s right about that.
“But she’s been an inspiration to many, particularly working-class women.
“She’s been a very effective minister leading the overhaul… of employment rights… and also starting planning reform that will lead to us building a lot more homes.
“Any government is stronger with Angela Rayner but we’ve got a good new team in place and that’s our job.”
Mr Burnham called for more regional representation in the Government as he backed another former Cabinet minister who quit after a previous fraud conviction emerged.
He said: “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.”
Ms Rayner, who now becomes a backbench Labour MP, had battled to keep her job after admitting earlier this week that she failed to pay the full amount of stamp duty on an £800,000 flat.
She had removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, in Greater Manchester. But the constituency home was held in a trust for her son, and since he is under 18 Ms Rayner is deemed to hold an interest in it – making the Hove property a second home, and increasing the amount of stamp duty owed.
Ms Rayner referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent ethics adviser, and resigned after he concluded that she ignored legal advice.
In findings presented to the Prime Minister, Sir Laurie said he believed Ms Rayner had acted in “good faith”, but that “the responsibility of any taxpayer for reporting their tax returns and settling their liabilities rests ultimately with themselves”.
Sir Laurie added: “She believed that she relied on the legal advice she had received, but unfortunately did not heed the caution contained within it, which acknowledged that it did not constitute expert tax advice and which suggested that expert advice be sought.”
The ethics watchdog said that Ms Rayner’s failure to settle her full stamp duty liability, along with the fact that this was only established following media scrutiny, led him to consider the ministerial code had been breached.