Sir Keir Starmer has launched an impassioned pitch to woo Conservative voters – urging those who feel abandoned by their party “to take a look at Labour again”.
In a comment piece for The Sunday Telegraph, the Labour leader said he is extending a hand of friendship to all Britons – irrespective of who they have voted for in the past.
Sir Keir wrote: “Across Britain there are people who feel disillusioned, frustrated, angry, worried. Many of them have always voted Conservative but feel that their party has left them. I understand that.
“I saw that with my own party and acted to fix it. But I also understand that many will still be uncertain about Labour. I ask them to take a look at us again.”
He went on to argue “Labour has changed dramatically” since Jeremy Corbyn’s time as leader – and claimed his party had undergone “shock therapy” to ensure it was “rooted in the priorities, the concerns and the dreams of ordinary British people”.
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‘We’ll have to check the tape’
Sir Keir contrasted his approach with the Tories under Rishi Sunak – claiming that the government has been drifting away from the electorate after “years of sowing empty promises, cynical falsehoods and false dawns”.
The Opposition leader claimed the current state of Britain is cause to throw hands up in despair, and the country no longer works for those it is supposed to.
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“Families across the country are bombarded with daily reminders of our current malaise: crumbling public services that no longer serve the public, families weighed down by the anxiety of spiralling mortgage bills and food prices, neighbourhoods plagued by crime and anti-social behaviour,” he wrote.
Mr Sunak was once again criticised for failing to get a grip on immigration, with Sir Keir accusing the prime minister of “a betrayal” after net migration rose – despite repeated Conservative promises that this figure would fall.
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Sunak: Migration level ‘too high’
Sir Keir also lambasted the “nonsensical” idea that some topics are “off limits” for Labour – vowing to “smash the criminal gangs growing fat on the misery of human trafficking”.
He wrote: “I profoundly disagree with the idea Labour should not be talking about immigration or small boats crossings. These are matters of serious public concern and deserve to be treated as such.”
The latest figures suggest Labour have a 20-point lead over the Tories in the polls, with the Opposition telling supporters that “all signals” are pointing an election in May.
Watch Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sky News. Today’s guests include Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.
She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.
Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.
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However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.
Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.
The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.
Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.
In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.
Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.
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Protesters block Israeli arms manufacturer in Bristol
On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.
She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.
Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.
She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.
Image: Ms Sultana called Nigel Farage a ‘billionaire-backed grifter’. Pic: PA
The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.
“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.
“We are not going to take this anymore.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.
“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”