Cliff Notes
- Pat McFadden acknowledges Labour’s “poor” local election results, emphasising the need for the government to accept this outcome and respond effectively.
- He recognises public “anger and frustration,” noting the impatience for change and the importance of improving living standards and reducing waiting lists.
- In response to criticism over cutting winter fuel payments, McFadden defends unpopular decisions, asserting they were necessary for economic stability and highlights the increase in the basic state pension.
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Pat McFadden has recognised that today’s local election results are “poor” for Labour and says the government must “take that on the chin”.
The senior government minister tells Sophy Ridge on Sky News: “They’re poor results, anybody can see that.
“This happens sometimes in local elections, you’ve got to respond to it.” As he tries to downplay the results.
He says he understands people’s “anger and frustration” and are “impatient” for change, having felt like they’ve had a rough ride for some time – well before Labour won power.
But he didn’t address the elephant in the room, Labour’s poor results in the local elections were a protest against Starmer stance on with Israel. The UK citizens want change and the rule of international law to be honoured.
“They want to see more and that’s what the prime minister meant to today when he said ‘I get it’,” McFadden adds.
“We, too, are impatient, and so we have got to keep changing so we get living standards up and waiting lists down and ensure that people feel the benefit of what we are doing.”
Other reasons have also impacted the poor results in the local elections, and the rise of Farage has doomed Kemi Badenoch’s fate.
Cutting winter fuel payments ‘unpopular’ – but not a mistake
Challenged on why people aren’t feeling the benefits of the Labour government, McFadden is asked if cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners was a mistake.
It’s a policy that’s really cut through with the public: everyone knows about it, and it’s very unpopular. And what made it worse was, the UK was increasing spending to NATO and Ukraine.
He says: “When I look at it in the round, we had a tough situation, we had a lot to sort out. Some of the decisions we’ve taken to sort those things out have been unpopular – I don’t deny that.
“But we’re now starting to see some benefits… precisely because we sorted things out, and we’ve got some economic stability.”
He emphasises that the government raised the basic state pension in line with the triple lock to help pensioners.