Angela Rayner has released a statement on the fallout from Thursday's elections, calling the decision to block Andy Burnham from parliament a mistake and urging Keir Starmer to 'meet the moment'.
Key Extract from Rayner's Statement
Angela Rayner said: 'This is bigger than personalities, but it is time to acknowledge that blocking Andy Burnham was a mistake. We must show we understand the scale of change the moment calls for - that means bringing our best players into Parliament - and embracing the type of agenda that has been successful at a local level, rather than reaching back to an agenda and politics that has failed people.'
She added: 'These are the fights we need to have, and the change in direction we need to see. Policy tweaks will not fix the fundamental challenges facing our country. This government needs, at pace, to put measures in place that make people's lives tangibly better, while fixing the foundations of a system rigged against them.'
Call for Change
'The Prime Minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs. Change our economic agenda to prioritise making people better off, change how we run our party so that all voices are listened to, and change how we do politics. Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough, and it needs to change — now.'
