MP has apologised after calling business ‘the enemy’, Starmer says

SIR KEIR Starmer said a senior Yorkshire Labour MP has apologised after describing business as “the enemy”.

The Labour leader said Alex Sobel, a member of his shadow ministerial team and MP for Leeds North West, “knows what he said was wrong”.

Sir Keir stressed that under his leadership, Labour was “very clearly pro-business”. Mr Sobel’s comments, made to a podcast, were reported by The Sun.

The shadow tourism minister was speaking about his work with businesses to tackle climate change.

He said: “When I first became an MP, I was like, I am not taking meetings with any of these people. These people are the enemy, you know.

“I’m a socialist, my job is to effectively transform society so that we have a much more mixed economy and we don’t have huge global corporations which have all this power.”

Although “that is still my dream” there was not “enough time to do that and save the climate”.

Sir Keir, on a campaign visit to Hartlepool ahead of the May 6 by-election, told reporters “Alex Sobel knows what he said was wrong. He has apologised. He’s apologised to me.

“The Labour Party, under my leadership, is very clearly probusiness. We want a partnership with business. And Alex Sobel understands that.”

Sir Keir was at Hartlepool’s nuclear power station, run by energy giant EDF, which he said was “a business that provides the best part of 700 well-paid skilled jobs in the local community”.

The Hartlepool by-election will be a key test of Sir Keir’s leadership. Labour’s candidate Dr Paul Williams will be taking on the Tory candidate, North Yorkshire farmer Jill Mortimer, as well former Labour Colne Valley MP Thelma Walker who is now representing the Northern Independence Party.