LABOUR leader Keir Starmer has “got to show he’s on the side of working people”, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has said.
During an interview with Sky News, the union leader said that he felt “most people” had respected ongoing strike action even if they disagreed with the overall plan.
He told Sophy Ridge: “They respect the stand we’ve taken, that our members have taken. They understand that somebody is putting a slightly different argument to the professional politicians which I think is a bit of a shame.
“It’s a shame that Labour and others can’t show that they’re distinct from the kind of consensus that’s got us into this trouble where working people are struggling.
Keir Starmer has 'got to show he's on the side of working people and I don't think we're seeing that' General Sec of the RMT, Mick Lynch, says "many people can't spot the difference" between Labour and the Conservative's at the moment#Ridge https://t.co/ZoMhCmTrtv 📺Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/PU4XeLRibe
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday & The Take (@RidgeOnSunday) July 16, 2023
“The cost-of-living crisis seems to be ignored by the political class to a certain extent.”
Asked if he was referring to everyone across the political spectrum in his comments, Lynch replied that he was and that Labour was not doing enough to separate themselves from the Conservative Party.
“We will be critical of Labour when they don’t do the right stuff and we’ll be supportive on the occasions that they do”, he said.
“At the minute I think Keir Starmer and his team have got to show some clear water, some clear red water between themselves and the Daily Mail and The Telegraph and themselves and the Conservatives.
“At the minute many people can’t spot the difference and that’s a shame for somebody who’s probably, as talented as Keir Starmer is, he’s got to show that he’s on the side of working people and progressive politics and I don’t think we’re seeing that.”
Elsewhere on Sunday morning, Starmer was interviewed by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg where he was grilled on a number of issues, including whether or not he would spend more on public services if in power.
He replied: “A Labour government always will invest in our public services.”
The Labour leader criticised a lack of “long-term thinking” and reform over the last 13 years of Conservative-led governments and added: “If all we do is simply patch up and keep going then we won’t fix the fundamentals and that’s why reform is so important.”
Pressed again if he would spend more money, he said: “A Labour government will always want to invest in its public services. The way to invest in our public services is to grow our economy.”
Starmer said the last Labour government “grew the economy and had tens of billions of pounds more to spend on our public services”, adding: “That’s what I want to replicate – to grow our economy so we’ve got that yield to put into our public services.
“But that has to start with responsible economics and it has to be coupled with reform.”
