Ed Miliband Urges the Labour Party to Move On After Starmer Apologises to Streeting for Negative Backgrounding
Senior Labour Party figure Ed Miliband has urged the party to move beyond party tensions after Prime Minister Keir Starmer directly apologised to Health Secretary Wes Streeting over hostile leaked comments linked to Downing Street.
Important Events
- Miliband states the Prime Minister will sack the Downing Street official responsible for briefing against Wes Streeting if identified
- The Energy Secretary dismisses future party leader aspirations, declaring his previous experience as Labour leader was the "strongest protection" against wanting the position again
- UK economic growth expanded by just 0.1% in the third quarter, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover hack
Background
The political turmoil began after media stories emerged about negative briefings from the Prime Minister's allies targeting the Health Secretary. Although initial efforts to downplay the incident, the discussion between Starmer and the health minister according to sources took a more serious direction.
The Prime Minister apologised to Streeting, journalists have been informed. The discussion was brief, and they did not discuss Morgan McSweeney, whom Starmer is now under growing pressure to remove.
The Energy Secretary's Response
In his morning broadcast appearances, Miliband emphasized the need for the party to focus on national issues rather than internal disputes.
Look, I think the briefing has been damaging, without doubt.
But my message to the Labour party now is quite simple, which is we need to prioritize the public, not ourselves.
We were given a historic mandate last July, a major chance to transform our country. And we have a historic responsibility.
Growth News
Separately, government statistics indicated the UK economy grew by just 0.1 percent in the July-September period, with the industrial sector especially hit by the recent JLR security incident.
The Day's Agenda
- 9.30am: NHS England issues its latest statistics
- Today: The Health Secretary is visiting the Liverpool area
- Morning: Rachel Reeves speaks to the journalists
- 11.30am: Number 10 conducts its daily lobby briefing
- Morning: The Prime Minister announces government plans for the UK's first small modular reactor facility at Wylfa on Anglesey
