Labour’s deputy leader has explained the party’s decision to scrap Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship digital ID programme and broken her silence amid Cabinet speculation.
Lucy Powell told Laura Kuenssberg that the decision to scrap the project was about ensuring the government was “laser focused on the cost of living, laser focused on rewiring the economy, rewiring the political system in this country, and clearing the decks, if you like, from of all of the other things that might distract and take away from that in terms of the focus of the government”.
It comes ahead of an expected shake-up of the Foreign Office as senior Labour sources told The Independent that “lieutenants of Andy Burnham” have been reaching out to expertise within the party over how to reform the Foreign Office, with Ed Miliband considered for foreign secretary.
Ms Powell described media speculation around the Cabinet, to be announced on Monday, as "horribly and unedifying".
She appeared to row back on rumours that Mr Burnham intends to announce more drilling for oil and gas, saying that there would be “change of emphasis” on the North Sea, but the incoming PM would stick to the party’s manifesto commitments.
