Labour’s dilemma

Mary Creagh versus Yvette Cooper

IT SPEAKS volumes about the current state of the Labour Party that Chuka Umunna’s abrupt withdrawal from the race to succeed Ed Miliband prompted one backbencher to urge Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis to reconsider his decision not to stand. Bassetlaw MP John Mann mischievously tweeted: “Make it possible for him to do fatherhood and leadership and move party HQ to Yorkshire.”

However the Shadow Business Secretary’s absence will not detract from the contest now underway, not least the rivalry between Yvette Cooper and Mary Creagh who represent neighbouring constituencies in West Yorkshire. These Shadow Cabinet colleagues are both vying to become the first female leader of a major Westminster party since Margaret Thatcher’s era.

Their contrasting approach also reveal the fault lines at the heart of the party following Mr Miliband’s defeat. Presumably out of loyalty to her husband Ed Balls, the deficit-denying Ms Cooper maintains that the last Labour government did not overspend, a position at odds with Ms Creagh who says she was persuaded to stand by this eve-of-election email from a small business owner which read: “If your lot do win today, please don’t annihilate the private sector and economy.”

It is a key point. The first task facing the next Labour leader will be to broaden the party’s support base – and this will not happen without a credible economic policy which places a premium on aspiration. On this basis, Ms Creagh has made the more convincing start but there are still four months to go and every candidate still has much to prove.