Keir Starmer has admitted that Labour is climbing a “mountain”, after polls predicted that his party will lose tomorrow’s crucial by-election in Hartlepool.
Speaking the day before the local elections, Mr Starmer said he faced many chanllenges when he became the party’s leader last year.
“That’s the mountain we’re climbing. We’re on that mountain, we’re climbing and we’re going into the elections tomorrow fighting for every vote,” he added.
Elsewhere, Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that things had improved since Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure.
“It’s a lot warmer for Labour than it was in 2019, there’s more willingness to engage with us,” he said.
However, he admitted the party still had some way to go, saying “people might not be totally convinced yet but they want to have that conversation”.
Up in Scotland, the incumbent first minister Nicola Sturgeon has promised not to hold a “wildcat” second independence referendum if the SNP gains a majority at Holyrood.
“I’ve said consistently all along, sometimes to criticism from people in my own side of the argument, I would not countenance an illegal referendum - not least because it would not deliver independence and I want Scotland in the fullness of time and in due course to become an independent country,” she told Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.
- Starmer faces rumblings of discontent as polls point to tough elections for Labour
- Hartlepool by-election is major test of Keir Starmer’s strategy
- Poll gives Boris Johnson’s Conservatives 17-point lead in crucial Hartlepool by-election
- Keir Starmer is heading for an embarrassing defeat in Hartlepool
