Ed Miliband will make a good Chancellor despite fears of a borrowing bonanza, Labour’s Deputy Leader has claimed.
Lucy Powell admitted she likes the prospect of the Energy Secretary moving into Number 11.
The head of Britain’s biggest union, Unison, has backed Mr Miliband for Chancellor and he is said to have the support of other left-wing MPs.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden is the latest name to enter the race to run the country’s finances.
Asked whether she thought Mr Miliband would be good at running the Treasury, the Labour deputy leader told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Yes I do actually, but actually I think this is a slightly distracting conversation, because I think we’ve all got a really important job to do.”
Mr Miliband is even thought to be prepared to approve drilling for more gas at the Jackdaw field in the North Sea in a bid to show he is more flexible on Net Zero than some think.
However, Whitehall insiders expect him to block new drilling at Rosebank oil field.
A senior Labour source said: “Pat is in the running. It will be between him and Ed.”
Asked why Labour was getting rid of Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, the deputy leader told presenter Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show: “Well, look, I mean, I think it’s not me getting rid of him, but I want to focus really on the positive contributions that he has made, but as he said himself on the steps of Downing Street on Monday – we’re here in the middle of the World Cup, aren’t we?
“When the manager loses the dressing room, the manager often takes the decision that it’s the time for them to go, and I think that’s the decision that he has made.
“But he has served our party well, and we do owe him a great deal of gratitude, and now it’s time for us to move on to a new phase, and that’s what we’ll be doing.”
Lord Walker said: “He’d be a disaster. I think, listen, of course, you know, I’m speaking on the hottest June on record. Climate change is real. I believe in science.
“But I think how we’re going about it is far too ideological. I think it’s putting unfair pressure on households and on bill payers in a very regressive way.
“I think if Ed were to come in, it would be balked at by the business communities, the markets would freak out.”