Labour must counter ‘growing sense of despair’, Streeting warns after Welsh defeat | Labour

Senior figures in the Labor Party, including Wes Streeting, said the government must reflect optimism and success after losing the Senedd by-election in Wales, as concerns grow about midterm fatigue and loss of momentum.

The health secretary warned the party must counter the “growing sense of despair” and show voters concrete evidence of change after last week’s defeat in the Labor town of Caerphilly for more than 100 years.

Streeting’s intervention comes as Labor’s new deputy leader, Lucy Powell, begins her first week in office. Powell promised to give members a stronger voice in government after a low-turnout contest following the departure of Angela Rayner.

Powell said the government should listen to its members rather than be guided by a “narrow group of voices” as it fights to avoid electoral disaster in local elections next May.

Powell defeated education minister Bridget Phillipson in the deputy leadership contest that ended Saturday. He said he had been given “a clear mandate that members wanted their voices heard at the top of the party”.

The Manchester Central MP received 87,407 votes, with 54% of the vote, while Phillipson received 73,536 votes. Turnout was just 16.6 per cent, which some Labor insiders say indicates widespread disillusionment within the party.

While Powell’s allies have repeatedly said he intends to focus on engaging the party’s base with his agenda, some lawmakers have questioned how much authority he might have in practice.

Party insiders say Powell’s job should be to “complement the leader, not compete with him, but still be a voice for members and the broader movement”; It’s a plan reminiscent of Alan Johnson’s recent words that MPs must balance loyalty and originality.

In Caerphilly, Labor came third behind Plaid Cymru and Reform, with just 11% of the votes it has had since the Welsh Senedd was formed in 1999.

Streeting said on Sunday that the result should be treated like the 2021 Hartlepool by-election, urging colleagues to “take the result on the chin and take it seriously” while urging Keir Starmer to display the same urgency in office that he showed in rebuilding Labor in opposition.

“The worst thing you can do after a result like this is to pretend voters are sending a different message,” he told the BBC. “We need to tell a more compelling story about who we are, who we are for, and what we are trying to do.”

Streeting said the government had had some success on NHS waiting times, childcare and falling interest rates but “people haven’t felt the change yet”.

He said Labor needed to “rebuild confidence in politics” by showing “the same speed and scale of ambition that means we can win a general election that no one thought we could win”.

Some Labor MPs privately described Streeting’s language as “sharp-edged” and said it reflected the first signs of public concern about Starmer’s political direction. One of them said: “This is loyalty with a warning label; Wes says to get a grip.”

Other Labor figures privately echoed his warning, describing the Caerphilly result as a sign that the party’s electoral coalition was fraying. “There is a danger of learning the wrong lessons,” one said. “We need to better communicate our values ​​with positive, progressive messages that highlight the good things we do.”

A Labor source said: “The right wing of our electoral coalition cannot be squeezed either; we need to do more on the cost of living and reassure people at the borders.”

Another senior figure said the challenge facing Labor was almost emotional rather than ideological. “We have stopped pretending to be a party that stands for change,” they said. “We can’t look tired so soon, people need to feel hope again.”

The comments reflect growing unease over the pace of delivery just 15 months after coming to power, with ministers aware that economic pressures and rising household costs are reducing public confidence in the party’s promise of renewal. One long-serving MP said: “There’s no crisis in Caerphilly… yet. But if we just shrug our shoulders, it will be.”

Powell, who was sacked as leader of the House of Commons by Starmer in September, said he would immediately begin working to boost Labour’s support ahead of local elections next May. He said the party needed to be clearer about its achievements in office.

He said: “I’m not canceling any elections next year. These are important elections in Wales, Scotland, London and all over the country.”

Powell said party members have not felt as involved and connected as they should in recent months, and he aims to change that.

“I’ll really help to do that, to re-engage them with the party and make them feel part of the conversation again. I’ll do that by working with Keir, by working with the government, by working across the party in the leadership roles that I’ll have.”