Labour’s bitter infighting surfaced today when Sir Keir Starmer flatly refused to guarantee his leadership rivals a place in his top team.
Rebecca Long-Bailey said she was ‘sad’ the frontrunner did not want her or Lisa Nandy in his shadow cabinet, which he is on course to form after storming the latest round of the contest.
Both women said they would have the shadow Brexit secretary on their front bench, but he swatted away attempts to reciprocate the commitment.
It is the clearest hint yet the centrist Sir Keir is planning a radical overhaul of the Opposition’s senior figures to make a clean break with Corbynism.
The leadership race has exploded into a battle for the very soul of the party, with hardline left-wingers lining up behind Ms Long-Bailey and moderates backing Sir Keir.
Speaking at a hustings in Glasgow today, the shadow Brexit secretary said he ‘saluted’ the other two candidates but stonewalled speculation on their futures should he win.
He said: ‘I don’t think any of us are going to get into jostling for positions on this.’
Sir Keir Starmer flatly refused to guarantee his leadership rivals a place in his top team at a hustings in Glasgow today
Rebecca Long-Bailey (far left) said she was ‘sad’ the frontrunner did not want her or Lisa Nandy (middle) in his shadow cabinet, which he is on course to form after storming the latest round of the contest
Both Ms Long Bailey (left) and Ms Nandy (right) said they would have the shadow Brexit secretary on their front bench, but he swatted away attempts to reciprocate the commitment
Meanwhile Wigan MP Ms Nandy said she would be ‘proud to serve alongside these two’.
Speaking about the hustings tour, which is taking place as the party looks for its next leader, she added: ‘There is a camaraderie that comes from going around the country from one conference centre to another. And we do actually like each other.’
Ms Long-Bailey told the audience: ‘I feel a bit sad that Keir doesn’t want us in his shadow cabinet.’
She added: ‘I think we’ve got three brilliant candidates and we had brilliant candidates who unfortunately didn’t make it onto the ballot paper.
‘I know we don’t agree with each other all the time, we’re very different and our visions are probably very different but we meet on areas of common ground, and that’s what would make us a strong shadow cabinet and I would have Keir and and Lisa in my shadow cabinet.’
All three candidates mopped up enough local party branches and union affiliates to make it on to the ballot put to party members.
It is the clearest hint yet the centrist Sir Keir is planning a radical overhaul of the Opposition’s senior figures to make a clean break with Corbynism
Speaking at a hustings in Glasgow today, the shadow Brexit secretary said he ‘saluted’ the other two candidates but stonewalled speculation on their futures should he win
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry was knocked out last night after failing to drum up the required support.
Scottish independence was front and centre of the hustings in Glasgow today, with Ms Long-Bailey sticking her neck out as the only candidate to explicitly state she could support a fresh ballot on independence.
All candidates stressed the importance of Labour winning back support in Scotland as a route back to power across the UK.
Ms Nandy said: ‘There is no route to government that doesn’t run through Scotland, but the challenge of this is absolutely enormous.’
She added: ‘We have to start winning in every region and nation of the UK, because we have to show we are a national party of government.’
Similarly Sir Keir said: ‘We can’t win without Scotland so we have to rebuild in Scotland.’
Ms Long-Bailey also echoed that, telling activists at the event: ‘We won’t win a general election without Scotland.’
Asked directly if the Scottish Parliament should have the power to stage a legally binding vote on independence Ms Long-Bailey said: ‘I’m proud to be from the United Kingdom but as a democrat I have to say that if the Scottish Parliament makes the request for a referendum I don’t believe that as a democratic party we could refuse that.’
Scottish independence was front and centre of the hustings in Glasgow today (pictured)
Her comments came after MSPs at Holyrood voted by 64 to 54 last month in favour of a second independence referendum taking place.
If there is a second vote on Scottish independence she said Labour could make a ‘positive campaign’ for the union.
But she was clear: ‘We can’t fall into the trap we did last time where we joined forces with the Conservative Party on Better Together.’
However Sir Keir said that by backing a second independence vote, Labour could be falling into a ‘trap’ set by the SNP.
He said the issue of Holyrood having the power to stage a fresh ballot on the issue was ‘an interesting question’ but he added: ‘We shouldn’t get sucked straight into that.
‘The SNP are constantly using the constitutional issue to mask the real issues, and if we get into that we are falling into their trap.
‘Let’s have a wide discussion about where we go next, but let’s be bold about it.’
He argued that Labour should support ‘radical federalism as the way forward’ for the UK.
Meanwhile Ms Nandy said she believed in a ‘much more radical power settlement than federalism with power pushed out to local authorities’.
She told Labour Party members: ‘I believe in the United Kingdom and I think we have to be absolutely clear about that and we have to stand up for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom.
‘We can hand power to people and give people agency and control over their own lives again by handing more powers to our councils.’