'They should all GO!' Mel Stride demands mass Labour exodus for 'destroying' Britain's economy

Taking aim at Labour's economic measures, Mr Stride stated: "He's taking all the wrong choices in the UK.

"We had a Government that came into office saying it was all about growth and they weren't going to be putting up people's taxes left, right and centre and they've done all the wrong things.

"They slapped huge taxes on businesses, took the economy down, borrowed a lot of money, spent a lot of money which has stoked up inflation. We've got one of the highest inflation rates amongst similar economies, so that's kept interest rates higher and for longer than would otherwise have been the case. And a national debt and a deficit that is deeply damaging as it rises."

He stated: "And we're going now into a Budget at the end of November in which we know pretty much there are going to be tax increases. We don't know exactly which ones, but great uncertainty and an economy that's suffering great damage."

Asked by host Dawn Neesom if Sir Keir should "consider his position" as Prime Minister, Mr Stride told GB News: "Well, frankly, when people ask me this question about various members of the Cabinet, including the Chancellor, my response is always the same, which I think they should all go.

"I think they are really destroying our economy. They are making life extremely difficult for millions of people, they're destroying businesses, they're not stopping the small boats coming, one begins to wonder what this Government is for."

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Defending the efforts of the Conservative Party in winning back the trust of voters, the Shadow Chancellor explained: "We are going to be stuck with them, I'm afraid, for some time. But we as a Conservative party have got to show that we are the serious, grown up alternative to that.

"We do need to be an effective opposition, I think we've demonstrated that day in, day out over the period of this Government, and we're now discussing the Chinese spy situation, Peter Mandelson's resignation, Angela Rayner being called to account, the economy, failure to stop the illegal crossings across the Channel and so on."

He stated: "It will take time, of course it will. But we are well down the path now, demonstrating effective opposition at the same time as demonstrating we have a very clear, well-thought through plan to address the challenges that we face."

Highlighting the Labour spy scandal, the Shadow Chancellor criticised Sir Keir's lack of "integrity", which was promised to voters during his election campaign.

He said: "Keir Starmer and the Labour Party came into the last election saying that they were going to clean up politics. It was all going to be out integrity and transparency. And with this issue and a number of others that we've seen in over the last year, it's the complete opposite of that.

"Now, with this Chinese spy situation, the CPS dropped the case, and it appears that they dropped the case because the Government was not prepared to designate China as a clear threat and in a way that would have allowed that trial to have moved forward."

He concluded: "Now, we don't know all the ins and outs of that, but the answer to this is to hold Keir Starmer to what he said before, which is that integrity matters and that transparency matters, so we should see the Government answering these questions.

"We should see people like Jonathan Powell, the security adviser, national security adviser, appearing before parliament, before a select committee, maybe the security committee to answer the deep and serious questions that this whole incident raises."