Ann Widdecombe explains why 'supermajority' would prove disastrous for Keir Starmer
EXCLUSIVE: The size of Labour's majority will not make Sir Keir's job any easier, said the Brexiteer and former Tory minister
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will ultimately find himself in a “mess” if his party wins a so-called “supermajority” in the forthcoming general election, Brexiteer Ann Widdecombe has predicted.
Former Tory MP Ms Widdecombe - who is now campaigning on behalf of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK - was commenting after Defence Secretary Grant Shapps used the word in an interview earlier this week.
The former Maidstone MP, who served in several roles the Government of John Major in the 1990s, told Express.co.uk: “It's not going to make any difference what sort of majority Labour has, they're not going to have a small one.
“And the only time when it makes a difference is if you've got a very small majority.
“The Tories got a majority 80 seats, which is what they started off with in 2019.
“If you've got a majority, then whether your majority is 60, or whether it's 200, actually it doesn't affect anything except your own sense of unity.”
She stressed: “So actually, Starmer will be in a bigger mess if he has a very large majority.
“Because there are going to be a lot of people that who are Corbynites and they will feel safe in the way that Tory MPs felt safe after 2019.
“They will feel safe to rebel because they'll say ‘well, you know, look at the size of our majority’.
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“So he'll have more difficulty with a large majority that he will with a small one.”
A Conservative Party social media advertising campaign is urging would-be Reform UK voters not to risk handing Labour a majority which could eclipse even the 1997 landslide under Tony Blair.
Mr Shapps, speaking to Times Radio yesterday, said to ensure proper accountability "you don't want to have somebody receive a supermajority".
He said: "In this case, of course, the concern would be that if Keir Starmer were to go into No 10 - it will either be Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer, there's no other outcomes to this election - and that power was in some way unchecked, it would be very bad news for people in this country.
"A blank-cheque approach, allowing someone to do anything they wanted, particularly when their particular set of plans are so vague, and they say 'change', but you have no idea what they actually want to change to, other than the fact that they've outlined plans which would cost £2,094 to every working family in this country."
Labour has disputed the accuracy of the figure mentioned by Mr Shapps.
Asked about Mr Shapps’s remarks, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told journalists he had “absolutely not” given up hope of victory.
Referring to his party’s manifesto launch, he added: “What you saw yesterday is we've put a manifesto forward which has got a very clear set of tax cuts for the country, tax cuts at every stage of your life.”
