Minister says Labour shouldn’t ‘apologise’ after criticism over ‘doom and gloom’ message

Labour should not be “apologising” for pointing out the economic legacy they inherited from the Tories, a cabinet minister has said.

Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, rejected accusations that Labour had been projecting too much “doom and gloom” since their landslide election win.

He said highlighting the economic situation was an important part of the public accepting the party’s “change agenda”.

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Mr McFadden, a veteran politician from the years of Tony Blair, argued that while the Tories “got away with talking about the inheritance from the previous Labour government for 10 years, we’re told we can’t even talk about it in the first 10 weeks of taking office”.

Speaking to The Guardian at a fringe event at the Labour conference in Liverpool, Mr McFadden said: “This is an important part of explaining what we’re dealing with – we’re dealing with black hole in our public finances, an NHS on its knees, and a prison crisis that was so desperate we were days away from the system completely toppling over.

“I don’t think we should be apologising for pointing this out – it’s an essential part of what we do now.

“We’ve got work to do to sort that out, and I totally believe in our change agenda – but people will not understand what we’re doing unless we explain the inheritance that we have.”

He added: “Frankly, it’s time we were serious about the future governance of the country. We’ve had politics as a show where the public weren’t told the truth. We’re supposed to be different from that.”

Since taking office, Labour have told how they have inherited a £22bn black hole in the public finances that has necessitated the party taking “tough choices” around spending, including the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for most pensioners.

The move – which has been criticised by some of the party’s own MPs – has been juxtaposed alongside negative headlines about senior Labour politicians accepting freebies and perks.

Sir Keir Starmer declared receiving £12,588 in gifts from the Premier League, including tickets for Arsenal matches totalling more than £6,000.

The prime minister also received and disclosed other gifts from Lord Alli totalling £39,122.

These donations included an unspecified donation of accommodation worth £20,437, “work clothing” worth £16,200, and multiple pairs of glasses equivalent to £2,485.

The Conservatives have attacked Sir Keir for accepting the gifts at the same time as reducing access to the winter fuel allowance, but Mr McFadden defended the prime minister, saying he had “declared everything”.

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Mr McFadden said: “I regard it as it was part of the campaign, he was in (the) public eye for six weeks.

“Waheed [Lord Alli] has helped them in that regard, in being (in the) public eye. He’s properly declared everything.”

Challenged on whether the issue may not be about the “rules” but the “optics”, Mr McFadden replied: “People always say that.

“If the donation had been given in a different way, would people feel differently about it? I don’t know.

“But what I’ve found, I think, reading these headlines is this notion of false equivalence – this attempt to say they’re all the same. I don’t believe that.”