Lisa Nandy says New Labour continued ‘Thatcherite consensus’ as she pitches for party’s left-wing membership The leadership candidate was speaking ahead of a speech on welfare reform and said it was time to stop ‘playing it safe’

Lisa Nandy has accused former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of allowing Thatcherite principles to continue under New Labour governments and said it was time to stop “playing it safe”.

As the Labour leadership race narrowed, the MP for Wigan pitched herself to the left of her party as she said she wanted to be “on the front foot” of welfare reform and called for an open and inclusive debate on how to empower people to change their lives.

She pointed out the party had done many things to be proud of, including the introduction of the minimum wage.

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But the candidate also said she had gone into politics due to her frustration with Blair and Brown governments, which only “took small amounts” from the rich and “handed it with conditions to those at the bottom”.

‘Thatcher’s consensus lasted through New Labour’

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Nandy said: “I’m not going to trash the legacy of the last Labour government because things like the minimum wage were complete game-changers in towns like Wigan, and the investment that went into health and education was really important.

“But it is certainly true to say that the consensus that Thatcher built lasted all the way through the New Labour years.

“I came into politics after 10 years working in the voluntary sector with homeless teenagers, first of all, and then with child refugees. And the reason I did was out of frustration with a system under the last Labour government that took small amounts from people at the very top of the system and handed it with conditions to those at the bottom.”

She said that, over the past 15 years, Labour had just “changed the face at the top” of the party thinking that it would be enough to win elections but it was not and she argued the party needs to look at an “overhaul” of the entire welfare system to allow people to “change their own lives”.

Deeper change needed

Her straight-talking and left-wing approach has won her the support of former leadership rival Jess Phillips, who abandoned her bid on Tuesday, admitting she would not be able to bring the party together.

Ms Phillips confirmed on Wednesday that she would vote for Ms Nandy as her first choice Labour leader and Sir Keir Starmer as her second preference.

Ms Nandy was speaking ahead of a speech in which she will set out plans to reverse cuts to Universal Credit, increase capital gains tax to match earnings, and hike corporation tax.

She said the “type of change” needed in the UK has to be “much deeper” than previous attempts: “It’s not just a question of do we raise Universal Credit rates, it’s a question of do we overhaul the entire system so that it genuinely empowers people.

“In recent years [Labour has] become far more paternalistic,” she said. “We think that by sitting behind desks in central London commissioning think tank reports and focus groups, we can fix it for people.”

She argued that conversations about sections of society – such as the working classes, the north of England or BAME people – were still so often dominated by “people who come from very similar backgrounds” – white, middle class, London-centric. Politics and public debate needs to be made less exclusionary, she said.

‘How would you know?’

Later in her media round, in an interview with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain, she clashed with the presenter after he dismissed claims the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has been the victim of racism.

Mr Morgan said that “negative” press coverage about Meghan had “nothing to do with her skin colour, nothing to do with her gender”.

Ms Nandy retorted: “If you don’t mind me saying, how on earth would you know? As someone who’s never had to deal with ingrained prejudice, you’re not in a position to understand people who have.”

As Ms Nandy prepared to praise the anti-establishment stance of outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn, her leadership rival Rebecca Long-Bailey was insisting she would take Labour in “completely different direction” from him.

The shadow business secretary, who has been dubbed the continuity candidate in the leadership race, dismissed claims the outgoing leader and his allies would still run the party if she won, and said it was “disrespectful” to say she is another version of Mr Corbyn.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Ms Long-Bailey, said hit back as “insinuations” that “men have been pulling strings in the background”.

“I’ll be taking the party in completely different directions. I would do things very differently,” she said.