Anna Turley MP issued a rally cry in the face of difficult polling ahead of the May elections next week, pointing out Tony Blair lost around 1,150 councillors in 1999
Labour can win the next general election and MPs must rally behind Keir Starmer as he’s the “best person” for the job, the party chair has claimed.
Anna Turley MP issued a rally cry in the face of difficult polling ahead of the May elections next week, pointing out Tony Blair lost around 1,150 councillors in 1999.
Speaking to this newspaper, the Redcar MP urged her parliamentary colleagues to stay calm regardless of the result, and to focus on delivering “further and faster”.
READ MORE: Alastair Campbell hits out over Nigel Farage £5million gift from billionaireREAD MORE: Nigel Farage ‘must face probe over £5m he was given by crypto billionaire’
She said: “I 100% believe we can [win the next general election], because. Look back in the 97 election and there were challenges in 1999, Tony Blair lost a thousand councillors. It’s easy at that moment to just kind of look at polls, that are a snapshot.
“People will judge this government on the entirety of its record when we get to the next general election. And I absolutely know, and I can see it with every week and month that goes by the difference that we’re making to communities like mine”.
She was speaking just days after a top election expert warned Mr Starmer ’s Labour faces losing over 1,800 councillors in next week’s crunch local elections. The week has also seen rumours swirl over potential challenges to the PM, including from Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner.
In a plea to rise above the noise, Ms Turley added: “Let’s be resilient. Let’s pull together as a team. We’ve got the best person that can be in the job. we’ve got a leader recognized internationally for what he’s achieving. We’ve done so much, but we have so much to do. Let’s not get distracted. Let’s not keep looking at ourselves. Let’s focus on the things that really matter to the people that we represent. Let’s keep delivering on them, and let’s go further and faster.”
Making her pitch to voters, Ms Turley claimed next week’s election was between a party on their side in Labour, and Reform who would spread “hatred, division and toxicity”. She tore into Nigel Farage ’s party, and suggested he broke the rules over failing to disclose a £5million gift.
The Reform UK leader was given the sum by Thailand-based tycoon Christopher Harborne. Parliamentary rules state new MPs have to declare political donations and political gifts in the year before they enter Parliament.
She said: “I am desperately worried because this is not a party that cares about ordinary working people. This is a party that is funded by global crypto millionaires, we’ve just seen another five million that Nigel Farage didn’t even bother declaring.
“These are not people that are on the side of working people. This is a party funded by millionaires, run by rich blokes who have no interest in public services, which would bring an insurance system to the NHS, and we see at a local level the chaos and the carnage that they bring to the local councils that they inherit. They don’t care about things that matter to people. They’re just interested in their own advancement. This is all about rich blokes looking after themselves.”




You must be logged in to post a comment Login