'Current strategy isn't working': Diane Abbott calls on Starmer to 'unify' Labour

8 May 2021, 12:57

Diane Abbott calls for a return to left leaning policies

Diane Abbott tells LBC that Sir Keir Starmer should build on Jeremy Corbyn's manifesto as he promised to do as a leadership candidate.

Following a disastrous election campaign for Labour, senior Labour MP and former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott joined Matt Frei to assess the damage.

Following claims from Sir Keir that he "wants to come up with a compelling message for voters" in the wake of results, Matt Frei wondered if Ms Abbott could see the Labour leader being in office by the end of the year.

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"I am not calling for Keir to step down," she asserted. "He was the member's choice."

She added however that "we do need to look at our strategy, because what Hartlepool shows is that the current strategy isn't working."

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Matt wondered whether the "legacy of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party" is to blame for the massive losses, but Ms Abbott insisted this isn't the case.

"We won Hartlepool twice under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership" she pointed out.

On Sir Keir's policy choices, the former Shadow Home Secretary noted that "he said he was going to build on the 2019 manifesto and I think he should continue to do so."

"The current strategy isn't working, we need to look at unifying the party."