Sir Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow as a second Labour grandee hit out at the party’s policies as polls opened in the local elections.
After Sir Tony Blair criticised western governments for failing to do enough to tackle climate change earlier this week, former education secretary Alan Johnson warned Britain’s world class universities are “under threat” as Labour plans a crackdown on immigration.
Mr Johnson said the higher education sector is facing a “worrying” situation and urged ministers not to “make the mistake” of trying to cut net migration with measures that could “ruin or close” universities.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They need to recognise that we have world class universities, and they are under threat for a variety of reasons.
“If they don’t grasp this, if they make the mistake of believing that the way to solve the migration problem is to ruin our universities and close some of them – that’s how stark this is – they will be making a very big mistake.”
With Nigel Farage’s Reform UK posing a growing threat to Labour, Sir Keir and home secretary Yvette Cooper are poised to unveil a white paper within weeks on how the party plans to bring down net migration.
The plans are expected to make it harder for foreign students coming to the UK to stay in Britain after net migration hit a record high of 900,000 in 2023.
Mr Johnson’s warning to Labour comes after criticism of world leaders’ approaches to net zero by Sir Tony’s think tank, The Tony Blair Institute (TBI).
In what was seen as an attack on Labour and energy secretary Ed Miliband, Sir Tony called for the government to invest more in carbon capture, which sees carbon removed from the air; to allow fossil fuels to continue to be used; to make greater use of technology, including artificial intelligence; and to oversee a rollout of nuclear power.
The former PM claimed that voters “feel they’re being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal”.
After tense phone calls between No10 and TBI, the former PM clarified that his remarks were not a criticism of the government or Mr Miliband and that he supports Labour’s approach on net zero.
In another setback for the PM as voters take to the polls, the boss of one of Britain’s biggest unions has lashed out at Labour’s net zero policies.
Sharon Graham warned ministers not to throw workers “on the scrapheap” in a bid to cut emissions.
The Unite general secretary said there has been no “investment” towards reaching net zero “and also secure jobs”.
She told Times Radio: “Workers want net zero, my members have no problem with net zero. The problem that we’ve got is that there is no investment currently about how we get to that and also secure jobs.”
She pointed to developments at Grangemouth, in which the site has ceased as an oil refinery and added: “The problem is that the jobs part of this is not being discussed.
“There hasn’t been one single thing done so far that I can see in terms of investments on wind manufacture, in terms of investments into areas like sustainable air fuel […], all of those things have not happened, and you cannot just plough on regardless and throw all of these workers on the scrapheap.”
Labour face a battle to hold on to what should be the safe Westminster seat of Runcorn in a by-election.
At the same time council elections across England could see Mr Farage’s Reform take hundreds of seats – and two mayoralties.
Polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice has warned that fewer people than ever are prepared to vote Labour or Tory in these elections amid the rise of Reform.
Speaking to The Independent, Prof Curtice said less than half of voters are telling pollsters they will vote for one of the two main parties, in what is a historic shift in voting patterns.
