Starmer insists he is pro-business after senior MP branded firms ‘the enemy’

Sir Keir Starmer faced questions about comments made by shadow tourism minister Alex Sobel.
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer takes the train to Hartlepool where he will campaign with the party’s by-election candidate, Dr Paul Williams, during a visit to the area (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
PA Wire
David Hughes30 March 2021

Sir Keir Starmer said a senior Labour MP has apologised after describing business as “the enemy”.

The Labour leader said Alex Sobel, a member of his shadow ministerial team, “knows what he said was wrong”.

Sir Keir stressed that under his leadership, Labour was “very clearly pro-business”.

Hartlepool by-election
PA Wire

Mr Sobel’s comments, made to a podcast, were reported by The Sun.

The shadow tourism minister was speaking about his work with businesses to tackle climate change.

He said: “When I first became an MP, I was like, I am not taking meetings with any of these people.

“These people are the enemy, you know.

“I’m a socialist, my job is to effectively transform society so that we have a much more mixed economy and we don’t have huge global corporations which have all this power.”

Although “that is still my dream” there was not “enough time to do that and save the climate”.

Coronavirus
PA Media

Sir Keir, on a campaign visit to Hartlepool ahead of the May 6 by-election, told reporters “Alex Sobel knows what he said was wrong.

“He has apologised.

“He’s apologised to me.

The Labour Party under my leadership, is very clearly pro-business.

“We want a partnership with business.

“And Alex Sobel understands that.”

Sir Keir was at Hartlepool’s nuclear power station, run by energy giant EDF which he said was “a business that provides the best part of 700 well-paid skilled jobs in the local community”.

The Labour leader also faced questions about the selection of doctor and former MP Paul Williams as the party’s candidate for the seat after he was the only person on the shortlist.

He told ITV Tyne Tees: “The local party were very clear that they wanted Dr Paul Williams and they were clear why, because here we have got a man who worked on the front line in the NHS over the period of the last year during the pandemic.”

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer takes the train to Hartlepool (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
PA Wire

The Hartlepool by-election will be a key test of Sir Keir’s leadership.

The May 6 contest will give an indication of whether the Labour leader can shore up support in the party’s former industrial heartlands after large sections of the so-called “red wall” crumbled in the 2019 general election.

Hartlepool is a seat long held by Labour and the party fought off a strong Conservative and Brexit Party challenge at the 2019 general election, although their majority was reduced to just under 3,600, down from 7,650 in 2017.

The contest takes place on the same day as local elections across England and votes for the Welsh and Scottish parliaments.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in