Labour could be facing a civil war as rumours about Ed Miliband being snubbed for the role of Chancellor continue to circulate.
Current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has emerged as the new frontrunner to replace Rachel Reeves under incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
While sources close to Ms Mahmood, Mr Miliband and, most crucially, Mr Burnham, have insisted nothing is certain yet, the Energy Secretary is reportedly “furious” about the speculation.
One Cabinet source told The Daily Mail: “Ed’s spent the best part of a year talking to Andy about his economic strategy.
“In the past fortnight he’s been the main person in with him and James [Purnell, Mr Burnham’s Chief of Staff] over putting together a package to reassure the markets.
“It’s not that he was specifically promised the job. But he basically assumed he was nailed on. So the reports he’s been ditched have made him pretty angry.”
Another said: “His office has been preparing to make the move to the Treasury and all the briefing has been that he’s been lined up for the job. If he loses out now he’s going to be really p****d”.
However, the makeup of the Cabinet under Labour’s eighth Prime Minister will not be known until next week, with sources close to Mr Burnham insisting nothing will be finalised until the Makerfield MP officially moves into Downing Street.
A source said: “The choice genuinely hasn’t been made yet. Andy isn’t going to be bounced into anything. Nothing is going to be finalised until he’s inside No10”.
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Sir Mel Stride has taken aim at the Government
| GB NEWS
Sir Mel Stride has slammed Rachel Reeves as he accused the outgoing Chancellor of “flailing” to deliver growth.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product rose (GDP) by 0.1 per cent in May, following a 0.1 per cent contraction in April.
The meagre growth in May came after expansion of 0.3 per cent in the all-important services sector, which was partly offset by falls of 0.5 per cent in production and 0.8 per cent in construction, according to the ONS.
The Shadow Chancellor said: “Rachel Reeves said growth was her ‘number one mission’. She has failed.
“Two years of higher taxes have choked the economy, and now Andy Burnham wants even more taxes to pay for more benefits.
“Starmer and Reeves may be on their way out but the problem isn’t just the Chancellor, it’s the Labour Party. Different faces, same failed approach.”
Reform UK says there should be no compensation for former British Steel’s former owners
Reform UK said there should be no compensation for British Steel’s former owner Jingye after the steel facility’s nationalisation.
The party’s business spokesman Richard Tice said: “Reform UK called for the nationalisation of British Steel back in April last year to secure Britain’s critical virgin steelmaking capabilities for the next 50 years. It’s good to see the Government has finally listened.
“We now need a bold strategy that backs British industry by ensuring the use of British steel in both public and private sector procurement, as well as scrapping Net Zero which is crippling our industry with sky-high energy costs.
“We must be proudly patriotic in buying British steel. Compensation should be no more than £1.
“This business comes with huge liabilities and will require billions of pounds of investment to rebuild the blast furnaces. Taxpayers should not be rewarding failed ownership.”
