Keir Starmer has ruled out an electoral pact with the SNP or the Lib Dems to get Labour into Downing Street.
The Labour leader signalled that he will step back in Lib Dem target seats at a UK general election but dismissed talk of any formal pact with other parties.
Earlier this year in a Daily Record interview Starmer completely ruled out a coalition with the SNP either “going into or coming out of” a general election.
In a Christmas Eve interview with Ayesha Hazarika, on Times Radio, the Labour leader talked down the prospects of pacts with other parties at the next election.
He said: “I do think we should have a Labour candidate that people can vote for wherever they live. And depriving them of that is not the right thing to do. There are also issues in relation to our rules.”
Starmer spoke as the end of year poll of polls giving Labour a six point lead over the Tories and Boris Johnson scored a 69 per cent disapproval rating against 31 per cent approval and with Starmer now ten points ahead on who would make the best prime minister with YouGov.
But the Labour leader admitted that there is still an electoral mountain to climb and where his focus would be.
He said: “Given the size of the task that we face, given my utter determination that we are going to get this over the line at the next general election, I am very clear as to what our target seats are.
“I know where we have to win across the whole of the United Kingdom. And therefore, I will focus my party on those target seats, on the places where we can win and we know we have to win.”
Starmer then listed Lib Dem targets that would not be the focus of Labour campaigning but where he would be pleased to see the Tories lose.
He said: “I have to sort of take an approach, given the situation we’re in, which is very clearly focused on the route for the Labour Party to win power at the next general election.”
Starmer also spoke about his relationship with deputy leader Angela Rayner who he described as a “good friend” and about whether he thought Boris Johnson was a liar.
He said: “I think he’s dishonest, yes. And, you know, when he stands up and says he’s furious, he’s just found out that there may have been parties in Downing Street, I don’t think many people believe him. I certainly don’t.”
Starmer said his vision was to “build a New Britain” coming out of the pandemic.
He said: “This is a political moment, the pandemic, and the burning question at the next election is going to be how do we build that New Britain coming out of this?
"The context here is the new Britain that needs to come out of this pandemic. That is the mission that is what we will build as an incoming Labour government.”
