Copy n paste of Times article posted 4 hours ago, as I know not everyone subscribes
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to rule out making a deal with the Liberal Democrats if Labour does not win a majority at the general election.
The Labour leader said he was “going for an outright majority” but on more than seven occasions avoided the question of whether he would agree to a formal or informal deal with Sir Ed Davey, his Lib Dem counterpart.
Starmer has repeatedly argued that Labour’s results in the local elections — gaining more than 500 councillors, many in Leave-voting territory that the party had lost in recent years — put the country “on course for a Labour majority”, despite some forecasters suggesting his party would fall just short.
It raises the possibility of Starmer seeking an agreement with the Lib Dems to pass key legislation. Davey’s party was also resurgent in the local elections, gaining just over 400 councillors.
Asked by Sky News whether he would strike a deal, Starmer said: “I’m not answering hypotheticals, but we are aiming for a majority and that’s what we are confident about.”
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He did rule out an agreement with the Scottish National Party, saying that “there are no terms” on which he would do so.
There is a “fundamental difference” between Labour and the SNP, Starmer said, adding: “I do not believe in the break-up and separation of the United Kingdom. I do not believe that our future will be better if we put a border between Scotland and England, so there’s no basis for an agreement.”
Nevertheless Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, claimed that Starmer would “not walk away from becoming prime minister” if he required the backing of the SNP. “Keir Starmer is a man who has broken many of his pledges, not just to the Labour Party but to the wider British public in order to try and become prime minister,” Flynn told Good Morning Scotland on the BBC.
He said that the SNP would insist that a Labour-led government “deliver the powers to Holyrood to hold an independence referendum”.
Sir Keir Starmer with, from left, Lisa Nandy, Tudor Evans, the newly elected leader of Plymouth council, and Angela Rayner
STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA
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Sir Tony Blair, Labour’s last election winner, said that Labour should not be “complacent” about the general election but praised Starmer’s progress. Blair said that Starmer has “done a pretty good job pulling the Labour Party back from where it was”. But he told Bloomberg TV: “Of course you can’t be complacent about these things at all.”
He said that Labour must use the coming months to forge a modern and optimistic agenda. “One of the biggest problems for Britain at the moment is the sense that we don’t have that strong forward momentum behind a plan for the country’s future,” Blair said.
On Tuesday Starmer suggested that Rishi Sunak’s wealth meant he struggled to understand the cost of living struggles. “If you compare the prime minister and me: When I was growing up we couldn’t pay our bills and our phone was cut off and I know the anxiety and the shame it has for families, so I know what people are going through,” Starmer said. “He’s a wealthy man — that’s good, I don’t knock that. But it means that he doesn’t understand, he doesn’t know the anxiety that people are going through.”
Addressing Labour’s newly elected council leaders, Starmer said they had been handed a “mandate to deal with the cost of living” and that dealing with the problem at a local level would act as a “blueprint” for a Labour government.
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Davey has said that his party’s central task is to “get the Tories out of power”, calling it a job that has “never been more important”.
• Daniel Finkelstein: Davey has deprived his party of influence over Labour
Starmer’s seven evasions
Beth Rigby, Sky News: You sat next to Ed Davey at the coronation on Saturday — is he a man you could do business with?
Sir Keir Starmer: Look, I’m going for an outright majority. I’m often asked ‘Will you do a deal with the SNP?’, and I’ve been absolutely clear: there are no terms on which we would do a deal with the SNP. I want to push on to a Labour majority.
Rigby: What about the Lib Dems?
Starmer: I’m not answering hypotheticals, but we are aiming for a Labour majority.
Rigby: You are ruling out a deal with the SNP on any terms, but you are not ruling out a deal with the Lib Dems.
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Starmer: As you know with the SNP, it’s a fundamental difference: I do not believe in the break-up and separation of the United Kingdom.
Rigby: Just to be clear, you’re ruling out any sort of arrangement with the SNP and you are not doing that with the Liberal Democrats?
Starmer: I’m clear I’m pressing on. I want a Labour majority government.
Rigby: Last year you said you would not go into coalition with anyone, including the Lib Dems . . . You’ve changed your position.
Starmer: No, I’ve said throughout, and actually from the day I took over as leader, that I want to go for a Labour majority government.
Rigby: Last year you said you wouldn’t have any formal arrangement with the Liberal Democrats . . . You’re not saying that today.
Starmer: I want a clear majority Labour government.
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Rigby: You haven’t answered my question — are you prepared to come to some sort of arrangement if necessary, informal or formal, with the Liberal Democrats?
Starmer: Well, Beth, you can ask me as many times as you like. The answer is I’m pressing on for a Labour majority.Labour Party
UK politics
Keir Starmer