Health Secretary Wes Streeting has acknowledged that Labour has fallen short in convincing the public about its vision for transforming Britain.
In comments to former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, Streeting conceded the Government lacks "a coherent enough story" regarding its plans for national improvement.
The admission comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer reportedly prepares for a second significant reset in the Autumn following a challenging thirteen months in office.
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Starmer's approval ratings have plummeted to unprecedented lows amid accusations that Britain remains "broken" during his tenure.
Streeting's assessment highlights growing concerns within Labour about the party's messaging effectiveness after more than a year in Government.
Despite claiming "a whole number of achievements" during Labour's first year, Streeting pointed to reduced NHS waiting times and expanded free school meals benefiting 100,000 children in poverty.
Yet the Government faces sharp criticism over mounting challenges, particularly regarding asylum seekers in hotels.
The Health Secretary emphasised that Labour must leverage its governing position to "set the agenda" more effectively, especially given mounting pressure from Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
Farage has directly confronted the Prime Minister about illegal immigration and crime rates, recently initiating a "lawless Britain" campaign targeting Labour's performance.
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting has acknowledged that Labour has fallen short in convincing the public about its vision for transforming Britain
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Speaking to the Reform UK leader, Mr Streeting said: "We mustn’t fall into the trap of letting Farage set the terms of the debate for us."
"Our most successful moments in the last 12 months have been where we have set the agenda, where we’ve gone out and made arguments as a Government and shown to be delivering as well, because that’s what people want.
"People want to feel change. They want to feel like the Government is driving the country forward in the right direction.”
Mr Streeting said that the Prime Minister has not communicated that he is a "bold leader" to the public clearly enough.
Starmer's approval ratings have plummeted to unprecedented lows
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Labour has begun to heavily target Reform in recent weeks, including on social media where the party's account has referred to Farage and Reform UK over 20 times in August.
Mr Streeting said that Reform’s rise represented "a major party realignment on the Right" and that the Tories now "feel less and less relevant" as an opposition.
He added: "If I think back to all of the conversations I’ve had with Keir in the last 12 months, there hasn’t been a single one where he said ‘whoa, slow down a minute, I’m not sure about that’.
"It’s always been ‘go harder, go faster, be bolder.’ And I think that side of his leadership we – and I mean his team – we need to show more of that."
The Cabinet minister's comments came during a pay battle with resident doctors
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Mr Streeting credited the Prime Minister for pushing him to take more radical policies, highlighting the decision to abolish NHS England in March this year.
Switching to Rachel Reeves's upcoming autumn budget, the Minister said: "You look at the range of pressures we’re facing domestically, internationally, economically, public services, the expectations of the country, the pain that families are feeling in their pockets and I’m always conscious that over and above everyone else Keir and Rachel are carrying all of those pressures together.
"And so I think it is our responsibility to say to our own departments, or own audiences, or the people we’re responsible for and the services that we’re responsible for, ‘you need to understand that we can’t do everything for everyone, everywhere, all at once’."
The Cabinet minister's comments came during a pay battle with resident doctors, who walked out for five days in July, and ahead of reports that Downing Street is planning a major reset of Sir Keir’s premiership next month in an attempt to take the fight to Reform.