Keir Starmer will 'inevitably' be replaced as Labour leader, says union boss
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham warns Labour risks “sowing the seeds of its own destruction”.
The boss of the Labour Party’s biggest trade union donor has claimed it is “inevitable” that Sir Keir Starmer will be replaced as Labour leader.
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Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, slammed the Prime Minister’s “failed leadership” as she took aim at his “rudderless” and “austerity lite” agenda.
She also claimed the government is threatening to “sowing the seeds of its own destruction” if the Prime Minister’s replacement fails to “depart from its current path”.
Ms Graham has called for a new set of policies with a completely new face, arguing replacing Sir Keir with members of his front bench or Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham “won’t persuade workers to return to the fold”.
“It cannot just be a question of changing the leader or improving the sales pitch. There is much agonising right now about whether, when and who should replace the prime minister. That is inevitable.
“But a new Labour leader with the same policies won’t cut it. Replacing Keir with Angela [Rayner, the former deputy prime minister], Andy [Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester], Wes [Streeting, the health secretary] or Ed [Miliband, the energy secretary] won’t persuade workers to return to the fold if they are just offering more of the same in a different voice,” she wrote in the Times.
Read more: Budget is ‘critical point’ for Unite’s continued Labour support – Sharon Graham
Instead, Ms Graham called for an increase in borrowing for investment, as well as a wealth tax.
She also called for the government to ditch its net zero policies and use its ramped-up defence budgets to purchase more weapons from British arms manufacturers.
Ms Graham said the next prime minister cannot expect support her union’s members without implementing such changes.
It marks the latest rift between Unite and Labour amid Sir Keir’s leadership – the only union not to endorse Sir Keir’s 2024 general election manifesto.
Speaking to LBC in September, Ms Graham warned that Sir Keir needed to reconnect with workers and Labour supporters or risk losing them as voters.
She told Lewis Goodall: "I don't want to get into the individuals," she said. "It's about policy. Look, do I think they're moving on the right policies? No, I don't.
"People are really hurting out there. They're on their knees and they're being kicked.
"You've got record profits, Tesco, £3.1 billion in one year. And you've got food going up by nearly 40%. You've got to do something about these types of things, otherwise workers will leave Labour in droves and that's what they're doing.”
She added: “What I want them to do is to be more Labour. I think what's happening out there are people are scratching their heads, genuinely scratching their heads and saying; look, we don't feel we've got a Labour government in power.
"What they need to do now is do what it says on the tin, do what they said they would do on the doorsteps and be Labour, do Labour things.”
It comes as Sir Keir’s popularity ratings make for a grim reading for the Prime Minister according to recent polling.
As of December 1, up to 76 percent of respondents in a YouGov poll believe Sir Keir is doing badly, while only 15 percent believe he is doing well.