Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds has said that it has been a “turbulent” time for the government but insisted that Sir Keir Starmer has a mandate from voters to continue as Prime Minister.
His comments came after it emerged that the 11 main trade unions backing Labour have agreed that the PM should not lead the party into the next general election.
Thomas-Symonds told GB News: “Well, look firstly, just to say on Andy Burnham, who’s doing a fantastic job as the mayor of Greater Manchester. I’ve been working with Andy very closely over the last two years on delivering the Hillsborough law and saw him only in the last two weeks doing a great job as the mayor of Greater Manchester, been fulfilling his democratic mandate there.
“But in terms of the point about a leadership contest. The rules are very clear. You have to have an alternative challenger, a single challenger, who can command 81 signatures in total. That hasn’t happened in recent days. There is no leadership contest.
“So in those circumstances, it’s been turbulent. I’m not going to insult the intelligence of your viewers by saying anything else, they will have seen it on their television screens. But those are the rules. That threshold has not been met.
“So we move forward today. We have 35 bills in the King’s Speech today delivering for people in the country. That’s the instruction we had from the electorate last week. They want to see that change, and that’s exactly what we move on and focus on.”
On the unions’ opposition to the PM, he said: “I haven’t read that letter yet, but what I would say, is this: I think the Prime Minister had a mandate from the 2024 general election to deliver change for the public.
“And when I hear frustrations about the pace of change, I share them, and I’m doing work at the centre of government, where I work in the Cabinet Office, to reduce those barriers to delivery things like, do we need the number of consultations? Do we need all these reviews?
“I know that your viewers want us to just get on with it, and that is exactly the work that I am leading in terms of the pace of change. Having seen the Prime Minister last night, I saw right in front of me his determination to deliver that change, get on with it, and that’s what we will do.”
