Mr McDonald’s resignation, which the left-winger announced with a blistering attack on Sir Keir’s leadership and policies – including a claim he was blocked by the leader’s office from voicing his support for a £15 per hour minimum wage – has prompted a fresh bout of Labour infighting.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Party conferences: What’s the point?
And those who had supported Sir Keir’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, might look to turn up the pressure on the Labour leader when many of them speak during a rally at the left’s alternative conference, The World Transformed, in Brighton on Tuesday.
“To be honest, the conference is falling apart because of the behaviour of the leader – it’s appalling,” said former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who is among those listed to speak at the Socialist Campaign Group rally.
Advertisement
Mr McDonald’s resignation came hours after former Labour MP, Dame Louise Ellman, announced she was rejoining the party nearly two years after she had quit Labour over antisemitism and Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
But, despite the drama, there were claims that Sir Keir’s office had “no sense of loss” over Mr McDonald’s departure and “no tears” were being shed.
More on Labour
Related Topics:
And, on the eve of his first in-person conference speech as party leader, Sir Keir will on Tuesday look to wrestle the focus of the conference back onto how he is trying to move Labour on from Mr Corbyn’s era.
This will include some of Sir Keir’s key shadow cabinet allies attempting to take the fight to the Conservatives on the issues of law and order, health and education.
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds will use his conference speech to accuse the Tories of being “soft on crime and soft on causes on crime”.
He will also announce Labour’s new plans for increased visible policing with “eyes, ears and boots on the ground”.
“In Tory Britain, people say you never see police on the beat any more,” Mr Thomas-Symonds is expected to say.
“That school children feel afraid at the bus stop, that people feel unsafe going out after dark. This is the price of years of Tory cuts to neighbourhood policing.
“With me as home secretary – if there is trouble on your street Labour will make sure that someone is there. You will see officers on the beat.
“In every community where people are frightened and afraid there will be a new police hub, and new neighbourhood prevention teams which bring together police, community support officers, youth workers and local authority staff to tackle anti-social behaviour at source.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth will accuse the Conservatives of having failed to put in place a plan to tackle NHS waiting lists or to improve social care.
“The NHS is in crisis not simply because of COVID,” he is expected to say.
“The NHS is in crisis because of the Conservatives. A crisis that sees NHS services collapsing, the army called in to the aid of ambulance trusts.
“Hospitals ration chemotherapy. And more and more people taking out loans, crowd-sourcing for donations in pain and desperation.”
Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green will also challenge the government to deliver a coronavirus crisis “recovery guarantee” for school children.
“Our children’s futures, life chances and aspirations must not be limited by the Conservatives treating them as an afterthought,” she is expected to say.
“They must not be limited by a recovery plan that the government’s own catch-up expert described as ‘feeble’.
“And they must not be limited by a weak prime minister who took months to sack a failing secretary of state.
“That is why today, conference, I am challenging the new education secretary [Nadhim Zahawi] to deliver a recovery guarantee.
“To ensure that every single child who has been let down, ignored and undervalued by this government not only recovers from the pandemic, but thrives on new opportunities to learn, play and develop – just as Labour’s plan would enable them to do.”
The SNP has terminated its power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens following a bitter row over its climbdown on climate targets.
It comes after First Minister Humza Yousaf summoned a meeting of his Cabinet – usually held on a Tuesday – this morning following speculation over the future of the Holyrood deal, first struck by his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.
The deal, signed in 2021, was designed to facilitate governing between the two pro-independence parties in Holyrood.
The climate announcement also came on the same day that the prescription of puberty blockers for new patients under the age of 18 at a Glasgowgender identity service would be paused.
It means Mr Yousaf’s administration will now run a minority government at Holyrood.
Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, accused the SNP of an “act of political cowardice” and of “selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country”.
“They have broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties who have twice chosen the co-operation agreement and climate action over chaos, culture wars and division,” she said. “They have betrayed the electorate.
Advertisement
“And by ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political cooperation, he can no longer be trusted.”
It is understood the first minister will hold a press conference this morning in the wake of the announcement. The Greens are also expected to talk to the media.
The power-sharing deal with the Greens, also known as the Bute House agreement, brought the party into government for the first time anywhere in the UK.
Named after the first minister’s official residence in Edinburgh, it gave the SNPa majority in the Scottish parliament when its votes there were combined with those of the seven Green MSPs.
It created ministerial posts for the Scottish Green Party’s co-leaders Ms Slater and Patrick Harvie.
As well as the watering down of climate targets, the Greens were also dismayed at the pause of puberty blockers in the wake of the landmark Cass review into the landmark Cass review of gender services for under-18s in England and Wales.
Last week the Greens said it would hold a vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement and Mr Harvie urged members to back it so the party could “put Green values into practice” in government.
But in the statement released today, Ms Slater said Green members were now not going to have a “democratic say” on the agreement, adding: “The most reactionary and backwards-looking forces within the first minister’s party have forced him to do the opposite of what he himself had said was in Scotland’s best interests.”
“If they can’t stand up to members of their own party, how can anyone expect them to stand up to the UK government at Westminster and defend the interests of Scotland?”
June gives me a wry smile when I ask her if she trusts politicians. But it soon fades.
“They promise you the Earth, and you don’t see anything. And it’s soul destroying,” she says.
I meet her and husband Joe as they tuck into fish and chips in the town’s oldest chippy, the Peabung, which has served this town since 1883.
June tells me she really wants to trust politicians but they “just mess it up every time”. I ask Joe if he thinks politicians care about him? “Well hopefully they do. I’m not sure really.”
He stops to think for a moment. “I don’t really trust politicians,” he says.
The findings of a Sky News/YouGov poll are stark and echo how voters like June and Joe feel. The findings suggest voters no longer believe what politicians say.
In some places, there appears to be a deep loss of faith in British politics.
More on Conservatives
Related Topics:
Shannon Donnelly has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and has used the platform to develop her Grimsby-based business selling personal safety equipment, such as panic alarms. I ask her if she trusts politicians.
“No – I think things like Brexit has massively changed people’s opinion. I won’t forget when they said all that money would go to the NHS.
Advertisement
“Now we seem to be in a worse position, but they still expect us to trust them. It’s crazy.”
The percentage of Leavers saying they “almost never” trust the government has leapt by 33 points (from 23% to 56%) since the last election. This is twice as much as the increase for Remainers.
Shannon’s lack of trust impacts on her livelihood and she says she doesn’t know which way to turn.
“For the business, obviously, it’s important to look at what they will do. We’re struggling. VAT is insane, overheads are crazy.”
Asked if people think politicians care about them, 83% of people asked said no, with just 11% saying they cared a little.
When asked how much do politicians care about your part of the country – there is a clear divide – 86% of people living in the north of England say they don’t care, whereas just 47% of Londoners say their elected representatives don’t care about their city.
Brian Wustrack owns the oldest fish and chip shop in Grimsby.
“They’re just not listening to the people that voted, it’s all a one-way system for them. They’ve lost touch with the people out there, especially the people in the North.”
The prime minister is still to announce the date of the next general election.
However, places like Grimsby and Cleethorpes are key election battlegrounds now. Support for the Conservatives may be fading but that won’t necessarily translate into strong support for Labour.
The Reform party is gaining ground in pro-Leave constituencies like this one, picking up their 2019 Tory voters.
But brace yourself for a raft of promises in the next few months.
The questions is will voters trust politicians to deliver on them.
The Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is going to be live in Grimsby tonight with a special programme in our Target Towns series. She’ll be talking about trust in politics with a live audience – that’s live tonight on Sky News at 7pm
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
ALL THE CANDIDATES IN NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE’S LOCAL ELECTIONS
Croft Baker Gemma Harney – Liberal Democrats Marian Jervis – Labour Party Graham Reynolds – Conservative Party
East Marsh Lloyd Emmerson – Liberal Democrats Barry Miller – Labour and Co-operative Party Callum Procter – Conservative Party
Freshney Tamzin Barton – Liberal Democrats Tanya Brasted – Conservative Party Paul Bright – Independent (part of Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group) Paul Wood – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Samantha Wrexal Holborrow – Labour Party
Haverstoe Stephen Hocknell – Liberal Democrats Val O’Flynn – TUSC Bill Parkinson – Conservative Party Ian Townsend – Labour Party
Heneage Brian Barrett – Liberal Democrats Emma Clough – Labour Party Tyrone Curran – Conservative Party John Stiff – TUSC
Humberston & New Waltham Ryan Aisthorpe – Liberal Democrats Joe Carter – TUSC Hayden Dawkins – Conservative Party Pauline Kaczmarek – Labour Party
Immingham David Barton – Liberal Democrats Trevor Crofts – Conservative Party Nathan Newton – TUSC David Watson – Labour Party
Park Robson Augusta – Labour Party Zach Kellerman – Liberal Democrats Dave Mitchell – TUSC Daniel Westcott – Conservative Party
Scartho Charlotte Croft – Conservative Party Caroline Ellis – Liberal Democrats Dan Humphrey – Labour Party Val Pow – TUSC
Sidney Sussex Andy Burton – Liberal Democrats Alexandra Curran – Conservative Party Mark Gee – TUSC Edward Kaczmarek – Labour Party
South Paul Batson – Conservative Party Jane Bramley – Independent Andrew Harrison – Liberal Democrats Sheldon Mill – Labour Party Bill Ward – TUSC
Yarborough Les Bonner – Independent (part of the Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group) Sam Brown – Labour and Co-operative Party Phil Tuplin – TUSC Christine Vickers – Conservative Party Aharon Wharton – Liberal Democrats