Labour<\/a> \u201carrived in government underprepared in too many areas and lacking clarity of vision and direction\u201d.<\/p>\nStreeting described Starmer\u2019s proposed winter fuel cut \u2013 one of the most unpopular policies in the government\u2019s term so far \u2013 as a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d and said the party had not had a true debate about its directions since the Corbyn era.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe moral emergency of antisemitism in our party left little room for intellectual renewal or policy debate on the centre-left. We then had a dishonest leadership contest, followed by an overcautiousness in opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cInteresting policy ideas couldn\u2019t be floated because we were too afraid of what the Tories might say, so we said nothing. Instead of a willingness to challenge ideas and kick the tyres, debate was viewed as division and shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe\u2019ve carried this culture into government, with a heavy-handed approach that has seen backbenchers scolded for interesting private members\u2019 bills, which weren\u2019t the government\u2019s policy \u2013 like banning smartphones in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we need a proper contest where all candidates can put their best foot forward. It\u2019s got to be a battle of ideas so that whoever wins comes out stronger for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Streeting said Britain should rejoin the European Union, describing Brexit as a \u201ca catastrophic mistake\u201d and suggested that a closer relationship to Europe would help \u201crebuild our economy and trade, and improve our defence against the shared threats from Russian aggression and America First\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also criticised the spread of misinformation online and stated that the country had \u201cchosen to hand the pen to tech moguls in Silicon Valley to write our future for us. It\u2019s time to take the pen back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve experienced in our country in recent months is a type of racism we haven\u2019t seen on our streets since the 1970s and 80s,\u201d said Streeting. \u201cOur country\u2019s flags flown from lamp-posts and flyovers, not as a symbol of national pride, but as a symbol of division: a message that those flags belongs to people who look like me and not people who look like our mayor of London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Streeting\u2019s intervention comes after Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, was cleared by Labour\u2019s national executive committee to stand in the upcoming byelection in Makerfield.<\/p>\n
It is believed that Streeting will rival Burnham in any challenge to the prime minister, though he said that he\u2019ll join the campaign in Makerfield, sayinng he\u2019ll \u201cbe out there going door-knocking day after day to help get him (Burnham) elected\u201d.<\/p>\n
In an apparent offer to debate with Burnham and others, Streeting said: \u201cChange begins with an argument. You don\u2019t make progress without one. That\u2019s why this week, I called for a battle of ideas, not personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wes Streeting has confirmed that he will run to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister if a leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-587554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}