There you are! Starmer surfaces

KEIR Starmer was yesterday forced to defend Labour’s lack of response to the energy bills crisis.

The party leader has faced criticism over the past two weeks for choosing to go on holiday as the cost of living crisis deepens.

Earlier this week former prime minister Gordon Brown appeared to take a swipe at his absence, saying that crises ‘don’t take holidays’.

However, Sir Keir insisted that his party had been ‘leading’ on proposals to tackle the cost of living crisis over the past year.

During a visit to Edinburgh yesterday, he claimed that Labour had already suggested introducing a windfall tax and removing VAT from energy bills.

He added: ‘For the best part of 12 months, Labour has been absolutely leading on this issue. We do need a strategic – a credible – plan and that’s exactly what’s missing from this Government.’

It comes after days of criticism from his own MPs, with former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott sharing a fake ‘missing’ poster.

Zarah Sultana also told LBC that she wants the party ‘to go further’ when dealing with the ‘huge’ crisis.