Louise Haigh says Keir Starmer can learn lessons from the way Margaret Thatcher embraced conflict - as he sets about recovering from the local election defeats.
In an exclusive interview with GB News, Haigh, admitted to feeling alarm over her party's response to last week's polling performance and that action was needed to avoid an "existential crisis" at the next General Election.
Speaking to Gloria De Piero, Haigh also admitted she came to quitting politics altogether after she was axed as Transport Secretary.
But she changed her mind thanks to the support of friends, and is now determined to fight from the backbenches. She has called on the PM to "pick a side" and also urged him to introduce a wealth tax.
Keir Starmer has been offered advice by Louise Haigh
PA
She said: “Look, I don't take any joy in speaking out like this. I've been a loyal foot soldier and a loyal MP for the Labour Party my entire time.
"But I genuinely believe those results on Thursday need to be the canary down the mine for the Labour Party, and I was genuinely alarmed by their response.
“That's why I felt I had the need to speak out, because I think unless we issue a course correction now, we are in danger of our own existential crisis over the coming months, years, and certainly in the next election.
“And that's why I felt I had the responsibility to speak out and echo what a lot of my Labour colleagues are feeling at the moment, but don't feel like they have the platform to be able to do that.”
Outlining where she thinks Labour are currently going wrong she said: “We are doing really good things that the public would welcome expansion of employment rights.
"You know, banning fire and rehire is just almost as popular with Reform voters as it is with Labour ones. But they're just not hearing it at the moment because we're not taking the fight to them.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Although no fan of Margaret Thatcher’s politics, Haigh said there were lessons Keir Starmer could learn from the Iron Lady
GETTY
"We're not taking the fight, I don't think, to Reform on those issues, and we're not taking the fight to the villains in the piece, which is those businesses and employers that at the moment really exploit workers and undermine their security and their work and their lives.”
Although no fan of Margaret Thatcher’s politics, Haigh said there were lessons Keir Starmer could learn from the Iron Lady.
Specifically, she said, on how she drew strength from conflict. Haigh said: “Margaret Thatcher drew her strength from that conflict and from defining her enemies, whether it be the National Union of Mineworkers or the Soviet Union.
"Obviously, I would completely disagree with the battle that she took with the NUM, but that meant that people knew exactly who she was and what she was for, and not everything in politics about conflict.
"Nobody wants to see everyone rowing all the time. But I do think drawing those dividing lines and showing that, you know, taking on bad bosses that don't pay the minimum wage, taking on bad bosses that aren't delivering the employment rights that we are expanding at the moment.
"That will define why, why we're doing the things that we're doing, and it will make people hear them that much clearer.”
Speaking to Gloria De Piero, Haigh also admitted she came to quitting politics altogether after she was axed as Transport Secretary
GB NEWS
Reflecting on her own political journey in recent months she told GB News: “I can't deny that I've very seriously considered leaving Politics back in December.
"And, you know, wanted to go away and never be seen again. But I have lots of brilliant friends and people who love me around me who kind of carried me through that.
"And then I've been able to give my head a shake and come back fighting. And as I say, I'm delighted to be back serving on the backbenches.”
Meanwhile Haigh has also encouraged her party to tax people with more than £10m assets.
Outlining why she said: “Wealth is disproportionately hoarded in this country by people who own land and estate, and it's been inherited through generations and generations. And unless we tax that, then working people are going to pay more and more of the burden.”
