John Swinney has accused the UK Government of being 'riven with internal dissent' following a Downing Street briefing row that has intensified pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The First Minister made the comments during a visit to Glasgow, suggesting that the internal wrangling at the top of the Labour Government would leave people in Scotland 'taken aback'.
The row erupted after a series of late-night briefings from Number 10 in defence of Starmer's leadership, amid rumours that Health Secretary Wes Streeting was seeking to oust the Prime Minister. Streeting has firmly denied any involvement in a plot, describing the briefings as 'self-defeating' and calling for those responsible to be sacked.
Swinney argued that the Labour Government's poor performance was making Scotland's task more difficult. 'When people voted for the Labour Government in the summer of last year, they expected them to clear up the mess of the Tories. Now, just over a year later, the Labour Government is riven with internal dissent because it is not delivering for people,' he said.
The First Minister added that the situation demonstrated that 'Government in London is damaging for Scotland', and that people in Scotland would feel 'profoundly disappointed' by Labour's performance. A senior Scottish Labour source described the briefing as 'an entirely self-inflicted wound' and 'massively unhelpful'.
At Prime Minister's Questions, Starmer insisted that 'any attack on any member of my Cabinet is completely unacceptable' and praised Streeting's work on the NHS. Streeting, meanwhile, suggested the briefings reflected a 'culture in No 10' that needed addressing, while noting that at least the briefer had 'picked on one of the men instead of the women in Cabinet'.
