Labour Together reportedly canvassing party members on leadership candidates – UK politics live | Politics

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been urged to be “frank” about his election campaign in Clacton after a former aide claimed he had breached his party’s spending rules. Kevin Rawlinson reports.

Good morning. The most important event of the day will probably be the meeting. Keir Starmer Downing Street hosts E3 (leaders of Britain, France and Germany) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This will be talked about a little bit here, but Yakup Krupa will post this on the Europe live blog.

Before the meeting starts, Starmer will make a visit to announce the government’s proposal for 50,000 new apprenticeships. In a news release, Department for Work and Pensions says:

With a major investment in creating more apprenticeships and training courses, 50,000 young people across the country will be better prepared for the jobs of the future.

The £725 million package of reforms to the apprenticeship system will help tackle youth unemployment and boost economic growth, with thousands more young people expected to benefit over the next three years.

The latest funding includes £140 million for a pilot project where mayors can connect young people, particularly those not in education, employment or training (NEET), with thousands of apprenticeship opportunities with local employers.

However, Starmer is likely to face questions on the following issues: A story in the Times with Patrick Maguire He says Labor Together, the Labor Party think tank run by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and which played a role in helping Starmer win the Labor leadership, polled Labor members to find out whether they thought any of the other eight potential candidates would be a better leader for the party at the next election. Maguire says:

A survey sent to local Labor parties and monitored by The Times encouraged members to name politicians “who have the best chance of leading Labor to electoral victory at the next general election” compared to Starmer, and to rank politicians they were most likely to vote for in leadership elections.

Starmer was joined by eight senior Labor politicians. The five cabinet ministers surveyed were Wes Streeting, the health secretary; Minister of Internal Affairs Shabana Mahmood; Education Minister Bridget Phillipson; Energy Minister Ed Miliband; and the prime minister’s principal secretary, Darren Jones.

Let’s Work Together also listed Angela Raynerformer deputy prime minister; Andy Burnhammayor of Greater Manchester; And Lucy Powell’sHe was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party in October.

The think tank also asks party members whether they prefer “Labour politicians who have principles but are willing to compromise to get the best possible outcome” or “Labour politicians who stand by their principles no matter what.”

Labor Together, now run by former Daily Mirror editor Alison Phillips, did not comment on the story. Suggestions were made that he wanted the data so he could compare the accuracy of his own membership survey with the results of surveys conducted by other organisations. (It is known that it is quite difficult to obtain accurate survey data about political party members due to small samples.)

But the fact that the party is even asking these questions will confirm suspicions among party insiders that they are preparing for a leadership challenge at some point next year. Although sometimes described as a Starmerite think tank (due to its McSweeney connection), Labor Together was not founded to support Starmer’s leadership bid. The founders were primarily interested in opposing Corbynism, and in the period before the 2019 election they spent a lot of money on internal party polls that showed that while the majority of members supported Jeremy Corbyn and his values, there were enough members who cared about winning the next election to make it possible for a non-leftist to replace him.

Here is the agenda of the day.

Morning: Keir Starmer is visiting a McLaren site to promote the government’s plans to provide 50,000 new apprenticeships.

10am: Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, gives a speech on independence.

10.30: Kemi Badenoch held a press conference on proposed Conservative Party terms for a national inquiry into gangs.

11.30: A lobby briefing is being held in Downing Street.

Lunch time: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz will come to Downing Street to meet Starmer.

14:00: Deputy prime minister and justice minister David Lammy gives a speech about measures to stop the UK being used as a money laundering base.

14.30: Work and Pensions Minister Pat McFadden answers questions in the House of Commons.

After 15.30: Education Minister Bridget Phillipson is expected to tell MPs about her strategy to reduce child poverty.

3 p.m.: Energy secretary Ed Miliband gives evidence to the Commons environment audit committee at the COP30 conference.

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