Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted Labour’s principles have not changed as she defended her party leader’s U-turn on his commitment to abolish tuition fees.
The shadow cabinet minister was forced to answer questions about Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to the pledges, which formed part of his bid to become Labour leader, after the promise to ditch tuition fees became the latest pledge to be dropped by the party.
The move has been criticised by those on Labour’s left, while some Conservative opponents branded the party leader “Sir Flip-Flop”.
Ms Reeves blamed the Government’s handling of the economy for the policy shift.
“The Tories have crashed the economy, they have brought public services to their knees and that does mean that we need to look again at what we can afford and what our priorities will be if we have the privilege to form the next government,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
She said the circumstances since Sir Keir became leader have “changed significantly”, forcing the change to pledges announced when he ran for the party leadership.
