Wes Streeting says crunch by-elections will chart Labor’s path back to power

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Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Red Wall fight was the “big test” and that the upcoming Wakefield by-election was a perfect opportunity for Labor to return to power amid fledgling support for the Tories

Labor needs to be victorious in Thursday’s tough wakefield by-election to show they are back on track, says Wes Streeting.

The shadow health secretary said the Red Wall fight was a “big test” – and Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet would be blamed if the party failed.

Voters head to the polls after disgraced Tory Imran Ahmad Khan resigned. He was found guilty of sexually molesting a teenager.

The West Yorkshire seat had been red since the 1930s but fell to the Tories in 2019 when Boris Johnson seized parts of Labour’s former heartland.

Labour, who have chosen Simon Lightwood as their nominee, have been keen to win Wakefield – who is seen as a totem
Score for both Mr Starmer and the Prime Minister.

Mr Streeting said: “We’re winning it – it shows Labor is on its way back to government. We’re losing – we’re going to face serious questions.”

He said the contest was a chance for voters to deal a blow to a prime minister clinging to power after surviving
vote of confidence by MPs.

The senior frontbencher added: “I really thought Conservative MPs had the guts to get rid of Boris Johnson after everything he’s done, but they didn’t.

“So they let voters do their job for them.”

And Mr Streeting says Labor is preparing for two terms in government as the party does not want to be a ‘flash in the pan’ if elected.

Labor’s manifesto would be ambitious, but “doesn’t promise the moon on a stick,” he said, digging at the party’s 2019 bid.

He added: “Voters want to know you have big ideas for the future – but they also want to know you have credibility.”