News / Politics
Hazelgrove supports Starmer and says Labour needs to ‘crack on’
Filton & Bradley Stoke MP Claire Hazelgrove says that Labour cannot afford to have “internal chaos” as she backs Keir Starmer to continue as prime minister.
Hazelgrove also shared a photo of her enjoying a pint at the Beaufort Arms in Stoke Gifford with Starmer, who on Wednesday laid out the government’s plans following the King’s Speech.
Addressing constituents on her social media channels, Hazelgrove stressed the importance of “stability”.
She said: “Before the election, the PM said time and again that it would take time to deliver the scale of the change that Britain needs. I openly talked about this on thousands of your doorsteps, too.
“In changing a country, you can’t simply skip to the end point, and just focus on your outcomes, without doing the hard yards to get there. And also without learning a lot along the way.
“Governing is tough. It’s meant to be. If you’ve been around in my party long enough, you’ve mostly experienced defeat, and the inability to make change that matters happen at scale.
“The PM brought us back from irrelevance and rebuilt trust with the country. So I’m not going to throw the towel in on our project of change in under two years.
“We’ve already made impactful change happen that has lifted children out of poverty, seen people get lifesaving NHS treatment faster, and government-funded childcare and Sure Start-style services give entire families more opportunities.
“Given what we inherited, and having to put fires out urgently, much of it has come into force recently and so isn’t yet being felt. That’s completely true.
“And yes we’ve made some mistakes, and we need to deliver more, and more deeply to tackle the underlying drivers of the hardest challenges Britain faces. And we need to find ways to speed this up, too.
“I know the PM is fully aware of all of this. He’s never said otherwise. Quite the opposite.
“We need to use every moment of the next three years to work tirelessly to deliver security, stability and fairness. That is what we have been elected to do.
“What we do not need is internal chaos at the top (many of you told me you did not thank the Tories for this) instead of this lesson-learning and action, which would risk harm to the economy and trust in politics even further.
“And certainly not with the impact of war on two fronts, a cost of living crisis, and after all the hard work to make Britain an active, respected partner again on the world stage at such a volatile time.
“This is what the PM is focusing on, and I support him to do so.
“There is so much work to do to bring about a Britain grounded in stability, fairness and opportunity – the Britain I know most of us believe in.
“That’s what I push for every day for our community. Let’s crack on.”
Main photo: Claire Hazelgrove
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