Top Burnham ally launches scathing assault towards Starmer on eve of Labour convention | EUROtoday

One of Andy Burnham’s closest allies has launched a damning assault on Sir Keir Starmer on the eve of Labour’s convention, accusing the prime minister of overseeing “rot” within the Labour Party.

Former donor Sacha Lord mentioned it’s the first of the social gathering’s annual gatherings he’ll miss since becoming a member of in 2022, accusing Sir Keir of getting deserted Labour’s values.

He lashed out at “poor decisions being made from the top” and warned lots of of Labour councillors stand to lose their jobs in May because of this.

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Mr Lord was Greater Manchester’s night time time economic system adviser beneath Mr Burnham for seven years till January and his intervention comes amid mounting hypothesis the so-called King within the North is plotting a bid to oust Sir Keir.

He has repeatedly entertained rumours he’s gunning for the Labour high job amid considered one of Sir Keir’s hardest spells for the reason that common election. And final week Mr Burnham refused to rule out stepping down as mayor early to return to Westminster and problem Sir Keir.

Mr Burnham has lengthy been a favorite to succeed Sir Keir and is a robust ally of Lucy Powell, who’s favorite to win Labour’s deputy management contest. He additionally has the help of tradition secretary Lisa Nandy in addition to different cupboard ministers.

It is known Mr Lord, who based the Parklife competition and runs Manchester’s Warehouse Project nightclub, would return as a donor to Labour if Sir Keir was changed as chief.

Speaking to The Independent earlier than Labour’s convention kicks off in Liverpool this weekend, Mr Lord mentioned: “Since joining the Labour Party, this will be the first conference that I’ll be missing.

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“I joined on the back of several meetings with the then Shadow Cabinet, who promised me a vision as the party of both business and growth.

“This was then reiterated at their manifesto launch in 2024.”

He mentioned it “simply has not been the case”, attacking Rachel Reeves’ “disastrous” 2024 Budget. He mentioned it was a nightmare for pubs, eating places, lodges and bars and has resulted in a slew of closures and greater than 110,000 job losses.

Mr Lord mentioned: “I don’t have faith in the current leadership, which has recently shown a lack of both judgement and loyalty.

“The cabinet is now again far too London centric, having promised more power to the regions, which now seems just shallow words.

“It’s apparent the current Chancellor has no interest in Hospitality, the UK’s 5th biggest sector. Her national insurance increase was both reckless and short sighted.

“Sadly, I predict that many good, hard-working Labour councillors will lose their jobs in May, purely from poor decisions being made from the top.

“Decisions that to me, don’t represent Labour Party values.

“A fish rots from the head.”

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The scathing assault comes amid a torrid time for the PM, who has this month misplaced his deputy prime minister Angela Rayner after she resigned amid a tax scandal. He was additionally pressured to sack Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US in an embarrassing U-turn simply 24 hours after defending him at PMQs in a row over his shut friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Labour is presently 14 factors behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK within the polls, on simply 18 per cent, virtually half the social gathering’s ranking on the common election final yr.

Sir Keir is hoping to show the web page on the social gathering’s convention, rallying activists and MPs behind a “patriotic call for national renewal”.

But he’ll possible face additional challenges from disgruntled MPs over his dealing with of the economic system, his stance on Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and his refusal to scrap the two-child profit cap.

A Labour Spokesperson mentioned: “After 14 years of Conservative decline, including Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget, Britain’s economy was on its knees. That’s why the Labour Government took emergency action to stabilise our economy and fix the foundations that rotted away under the Tories.

“With Keir Starmer’s management, wages are lastly rising sooner than costs, rates of interest have been lower 5 occasions and we’ve secured three main commerce offers. And since Labour got here into energy, greater than half 1,000,000 folks have moved into employment.

“We’re turning the page on years of decline and are focused on putting more money in working people’s pockets.”