Frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer said members must stop “trashing” previous Labour governments as voting to elect a new leader opened today.
Sir Keir said Labour must “build on the success” of its former governments while taking into account the shift the party has made towards more “radical” positions over the last five years.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What I’ve said is we don’t trash past Labour governments. All Labour governments made very important changes to the lives of millions of people. But nor do we trash the last five years… Jeremy Corbyn made the Labour party a clearly anti-austerity party, a party that stood up against cuts to public services. And I think that was important.”
He added: “We’ve been taking lumps out of each other and divided parties don’t win elections.”
It comes as the left-wing Fire Brigades Union, which is supporting Rebecca Long-Bailey, released a video directly attacking her rivals Sir Keir and backbencher Lisa Nandy. The film focused on the leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn in 2016 and mass frontbench resignations when Ms Long-Bailey stepped up to become a shadow cabinet member.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “There are questions that both Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy have to answer. They both participated in that attempt to force Corbyn from office and thereby undermine the decision that Labour Party members took.”
Sir Keir, the shadow Brexit secretary, has secured the most nominations from unions, affiliates and local Labour parties. Today he also said his rivals Ms Nandy and Ms Long-Bailey would “of course” be in the next shadow cabinet.
However, he declined to say what role he would give Jeremy Corbyn, adding: “I’ve not assigned any role to anyone in any shadow cabinet.”
He also vowed to scrap the Government’s new salary thresholds for migrants coming to Britain if he became PM.
Sir Keir said: “I think the idea that if you don’t earn a certain salary you’re not bringing anything of any worth to this country is offensive.”
Voting will close on April 2, with the next Labour leader announced two days later.
