Labour is facing civil war over rail strikes as key MPs insist they will back industrial action

Labour descended into civil war last night over its ‘own goal’ response to impending rail strikes and a ‘lack of control’ at the heart of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership. Can’t we see how badly this is going to play when the strikes happen and the Tories repeat this back?’ The row broke amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir to condemn militant rail union leaders threatening to paralyse the country with three days of strikes next week. Critics are furious at how Ms Nandy and Mr Streeting – seen as the frontrunners to replace Sir Keir – were allowed to ‘freelance’ on Labour’s position on the strikes. The Shadow Minister said: ‘It speaks to an absolute lack of necessary discipline at the heart of the operation if senior members of the Shadow Cabinet feel they can go around pitching to the members for a putative future leadership election when we’ve got a General Election to win first.’ A row broke out amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir to condemn militant rail union leaders threatening to paralyse the country with three days of strikes next week And speaking after Labour grandee Peter Mandelson warned how Sir Keir had a year to put Labour within reach of an Election win, he also raised fears the party still lacked the big vision to appeal to voters.