Tories 'will never give up' the fight to stay in power

CHALLENGE FOR LABOUR

- David Williamson

BIG beasts of the Labour Party have warned activists that the next election is not “in the bag”.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and New Labour veterans Lord Mandelson and Alan Milburn have urged supporters against complacency as the Conservatives plot to stay in power.

Labour commands a lead of around 20 points in the polls and the Tories have been rocked by scandals. But the Labour heavyweights cautioned that the Conservatives will “never give up”.

Former health secretary Mr Milburn, inset, warned it is still “game on” and said that opinion polls “count for nothing”, predicting Rishi Sunak will call the election “as late as possible”.

He told GB News: “Why is he going to do that? Because he’s 20 points behind in the opinion polls.

“So he needs all the time he can get in order to try to claw that lead back, and, at a minimum, try to prevent Labour from getting an overall majority.”

Describing the run-up to Labour’s historic 1997 landslide, he said: “Although the opinion polls were saying Labour was going to have a landslide, not one of us believed it.”

And Lord Mandelson warned the party against “inhaling” its present success.

He told the broadcaster: “The biggest risk is that we think the next election is in the bag and we relax, we take it for granted. No, we have to maintain our absolute focus on voters, particularly those voters who have yet to be convinced that Labour does offer a credible, united, progressive alternative.”