Ed Miliband Urges the Labour Party to Focus Forward Following Starmer Says Sorry to Streeting for Negative Media Leaks
Senior Labour Party figure Ed Miliband has urged the party to leave behind internal tensions after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer personally expressed regret to health minister Wes Streeting MP over negative media stories coming from Number 10.
Key Updates
- Ed Miliband confirms Starmer will sack the No 10 source responsible for briefing against Streeting if identified
- Miliband rejects future leadership aspirations, saying his previous time as Labour leader was the "strongest vaccine" against seeking the role again
- UK economic growth increased by just 0.1 percent in the third quarter, hit by the Jaguar Land Rover hack
Situation
The political unrest erupted after media stories surfaced about critical background comments from Starmer's allies targeting Streeting. Despite early efforts to minimize the incident, the discussion between Starmer and the health minister apparently took a more serious direction.
Starmer apologised to Streeting, journalists have been informed. The conversation was short, and they did not talk about the chief of staff, whom Starmer is now under growing pressure to sack.
The Energy Secretary's Reaction
In his early morning media appearances, Ed Miliband stressed the need for the Labour Party to concentrate on national priorities rather than party divisions.
Look, I think the briefing has been damaging, certainly.
But my advice to the Labour members today is quite simple, which is we need to concentrate on the nation, not each other.
We were given a significant election win last July, a major opportunity to improve our nation. And we have a historic duty.
Economic News
In other news, government figures showed the UK economy expanded by just 0.1% in the July-September period, with the production sector particularly hit by the recently reported JLR cyber-attack.
The Day's Agenda
- Morning: The National Health Service publishes its monthly statistics
- Today: The Health Secretary visits Liverpool
- Morning: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the press
- 11.30am: Downing Street conducts its daily media briefing
- Morning: Keir Starmer promotes plans for the Britain's first nuclear power facility at Wylfa on Anglesey