Wes Streeting refuses to rule out Lib Dem-Labour coalition

The Labour Party’s Wes Streeting has refused to rule out a coalition Government with the Lib Dems, as the party has been warned it is not on course for a majority Government. It comes as Conservative Minister Lucy Frazer said Labour “needed to do better” at the local elections in order to be on course for a majority Government.

When pressed on whether they would join forces with the Lib Dems if a majority isn’t achieved at the 2024 election, Mr Streeting would not rule it out.

The Shadow Health Secretary said he is “not even entertaining that prospect”.

Speaking on her Sunday morning politics show, Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge pressed him, saying: “That’s not a direct answer to the question is it.”

In response, Mr Streeting said: “I just don’t think that is the scenario that we are going to be in after the next general election.

“I honestly think Keir Starmer could literally be in the car on the way to the Palace in the car, having just been summoned to be Prime Minister of a majority party, and the Conservative Party and some parts of the media’s talking points would still be ‘Oh it’s a difficult night for the Conservatives but Labour could have done better. Come on’.”

She hit back: “In this scenario, where the results point to a hung parliament, I think it’s a legitimate question.”

But the Labour MP dodged the question, saying: “This is a process, not an event. We are not at the final destination yet in terms of a general election.”

Appearing on the same show, Lucy Frazer, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, admitted that the Conservatives “need to do better”. But she said Labour did not do well enough at the local elections this week to deliver a majority Government.

She said: “Labour did well, I accept that.

“But if it wants to get a majority at the next election, it needed to do better.

“The statistics show that to win at a general election, at the previous local election you need to be 13 or 14 points up. They were around eight points up, so they do need to do better.

“We’ve got some way to go, we need to continue working hard. I totally understand that we need to do better and I think we are going to deliver that.”

The Conservatives had a bruising day at the polls on Thursday, with Labour seizing battlegrounds from the Tories, including the Kent council for the first time since 1998.

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