News from Labour Matters

PM: Labour will win the next general election

The Prime Minister has dismissed complacent claims by Conservative Eric Pickles that it was “now impossible” for Labour to win the next election, saying “we are going to go on and win”. He also backed David Miliband’s Guardian article, which sparked leadership speculation earlier this month claiming that the article “was an article that any member of the Cabinet could have written, or I could have written”.

Speaking to reports whilst on the way to Beijing, he dampened talk of an imminent cabinet reshuffle, saying that he is “happy with the team”, but still left the door open by adding that “no one makes advance announcements on things like that. We are concentrating on economic issues.”

“You will find, as we get into September, that what the people of Britain are concerned about is what’s happening to their mortgages, what’s happening to their gas and electricity bills, what’s happening to oil prices and petrol prices at the pumps.

“These are the issues they want us to address and look at. You will see us dealing with some of these issues when we come back in September,” he said.

The Prime Minister also said that he would use his trip to Beijing to put pressure on China over the country’s human rights record and revealed that he had replied to questions about the matter from the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, saying “support for the Games and engagement with China is not at the expense of human rights. It is integral to their promotion.”

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