'I Strongly Disagree': Yvette Cooper Hits Back After Ex-Labour MP Attacks Government
Sultana announced last night she was quitting Labour, a year after she was suspended for voting against the government's plans to keep the two-child benefit cap.
As she declared she was setting up a new party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the MP for Coventry South said the government had 'completely failed to improve people's lives'.
She claimed that's why Nigel Farage's Reform UK was leading in the polls.
Sultana said: 'In 2029 the choice will be stark: socialism or barbarism. Billionaires already have three parties fighting for them. It's time the rest of us had one. Join us. The time is now.'
But Cooper rejected Sultana's take on the government's performance during an interview with Sky News.
When presenter Anna Jones read out Sultana's 'damning' list of criticisms, the home secretary said: 'I just strongly disagree with her.'
She claimed the change 'doesn't just happen at the flick of a switch' and pointed to the government's actions on the NHS and its ongoing support for working people.
Jones then noted that just this week 49 Labour MPs rebelled against the government's welfare cuts, even after Downing Street added two rounds of concessions.
'Zarah Sultana isn't alone, is she? There seem to be a lot of Labour MPs who have lost faith in the leadership,' the presenter noted.
The home secretary replied: 'I think she [Sultana] has always taken a very different view to most people in the government on a lot of different things, and that's for her to do so.'
Responding to Sultana's announcement, a Labour party spokesperson told HuffPost UK: 'In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions. Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.'
Sultana is yet to announce the name of her new party, and Corbyn is yet to respond – or confirm – to her claims at all.
According to reports, the former Labour leader – who has sat as an independent after his 2024 expulsion – is 'furious and bewildered' that she launched the party without consultation.
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