Head of UK’s largest union says she doesn’t know if Starmer will be Labour leader in May
The boss of Britain’s biggest union says he cannot guarantee Keir Starmer will remain leader of the Labor Party after next May’s election. The election is widely predicted to be a disaster for the prime minister.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea also called for a “restart”, saying there had been a series of “own goals” since Labor came to power last July.
Asked if he thought Sir Keir would still be Labor leader after May, he said: “Who knows?”
He added: “I don’t know how Keir will feel about this, or how Labor MPs will feel about it, depending on what happens in May. I suspect it will, but I can’t honestly guarantee that.”
His comments come after months of rising tensions between Labor and unions.
These erupted in the summer when Unite, another major union, accused the party of not standing up for workers.
Last month, Rachel Reeves was also warned that she could cause Labour’s biggest donors to leave the party if she continued to be “stuck to the right” in her upcoming budget.
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Steve Wright has warned there is increasing pressure on unions to end political donations to the party.
Opinion polls show Labor trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, and experts warn the party could even come third in next May’s Welsh election. He could also lose in Scotland, another former Labor heartland, and face a huge crush in local elections across England.
Ms McAnea also touched on the party’s record in government, saying it was “shocking what’s going on”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that voters who supported the party last year “expect to have more money in their pockets”.
He warned that while the government had successes, they were “masked”. Asked who was to blame, he said: “It must be the Labor government’s fault.”
He added that he had “no idea” why the party had stripped millions of pensioners of their winter fuel allowance last year, and described it as one of a number of “his own goals” since taking office, as he called for a “reset” within Labor.
His comments come later Independent The Chancellor will face a cabinet backlash if he breaks Labour’s manifesto commitment and raises income tax in the Budget later this month, Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves have revealed.
It is widely predicted that Ms Reeves will raise taxes as she seeks to plug a multi-billion pound hole in the country’s finances.
Sir Keir stood by her this week after she admitted she had failed to obtain the correct license to rent our south London property.
But this follows a series of scandals in recent weeks, during which he was forced to sack his ambassador to Washington, Lord Mandelson, and lost his deputy Angela Rayner, who admitted she did not pay enough taxes.
