The boss of the UK’s largest trade union has said she cannot guarantee that Keir Starmer will remain the leader of the Labour Party after next May’s elections, which are widely predicted to be disastrous for the prime minister.
Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, also hit out at what she said were a series of “own goals” by Labour since it came to power last July, as she called for a “reset”.
Asked if she thought Sir Keir would still be Labour leader after May, she replied: “Who knows?”
She added: “I don’t know, depending on what happens in May, what Keir will feel about it or indeed the Labour MPs will feel about it. I suspect he will be – but I could not honestly guarantee it.”
Her comments follow months of mounting tensions between Labour and the unions which erupted over the summer when another major union, Unite, accused the party of not being on the side of workers.
Last month chancellor Rachel Reeves was also warned that she could trigger Labour’s biggest donors to disaffiliate from the party if she continues to “pander to the right” in her upcoming Budget.
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Steve Wright warned that there was growing pressure on unions to end political donations to the party.
Opinion polls show Labour trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, with experts warning it could even come third in next May’s Welsh elections. At the same time it could lose in another former Labour heartland, Scotland, and face a drubbing in local elections across England.
Ms McAnea also hit out at the party’s record in government, saying it was “shocking what has been happening”.
She told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that voters who backed the party last year “expected to have more money in their pockets”.
While the government has had successes, Ms McAnea warned they had been “masked”. Asked who was to blame, she said: “It has to be the Labour government’s fault.”
She added that she had “no idea” why the party had stripped the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners last year, describing it as one of a series of “own goals” since it took office.
Her comments come after The Independent revealed Sir Keir and Ms Reeves will face a cabinet backlash if the chancellor breaks Labour’s manifesto pledge and raises income tax in the Budget later this month.
Ms Reeves is widely predicted to raise taxes as she struggles to fill a multibillion-pound hole in the nation’s finances.
Sir Keir stood by her this week after she admitted she failed to obtain the correct licence to rent our her south London property.
But it follows a series of scandals in recent weeks which saw the PM forced to sack ambassador to Washington Lord Mandelson, and lose his deputy, Angela Rayner, after she admitted she had not paid enough tax when buying a flat.
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