Miliband urges Starmer to wield the axe as he weighs in on Labour crisis: Live

As well as discussing GDP and the leadership row, Ed Miliband has said he makes “no apologies” for choosing Rolls-Royce to build the UK’s first “small modular reactor” nuclear power station after criticism from the US ambassador.

The Energy Secretary told Times Radio: “It’s true he doesn’t think it’s so great.

“The reason he doesn’t think it’s so great is because he wanted a US company to be at this site.

“Because he thinks it’s the prime site … I totally understand that, it’s completely legitimate for him to be making the case for a US company.

“We chose a British company, Rolls-Royce for this site, and I make no apologies for that.

“Our job is to stand up for the national interest.

“There’s lots of things we’re co-operating with our US colleagues on.”

He said the other site that had been considered, Oldbury in Gloucestershire, could “accommodate various other US companies that are really interested in building new nuclear in this country”.

Senior Labour figures are still furious about the events of the last 36 hours – and demanding the head of Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, The Independent’s Whitehall Editor, Kate Devlin reports.

A Labour peer told the Independent Keir was being “derailed” by some of the people around him.

“It was a mistake to sack Sue Gray, engineered by McSweeney. Some say McSweeney is too powerful to sack – but that would now show Starmer is fully in charge,” he added.

The former chairman of NatWest Bank has launched a broadside against Rachel Reeves warning she is doing everything she can to prevent economic growth.

Economist Sir Howard Davies told Radio 4’s Today Programme criticism of the chancellor comes less than two weeks ahead of a crucial budget which many believe could make or break the government.

While the chancellor came into office claiming that economic growth was her number one mission, the economy has stagnated.

Sir Howard blamed the policies she has brought in including increasing national insurance contributions on employers and new employment rights.

He said: “I would say that the way the government have been behaving in recent months is such that if they were trying to slow the economy down, I can’t think of anything else I would do, because you demonstrate first of all that you’ve got trouble at the top of the government, you then conduct a series of remarkable leaks suggesting that you’re going to tax property, you’re going to tax wealth, you’re going to tax gambling, you’re going to tax banks. You’re now going to tax even bikes for goodness sake.

“All of that is a sort of cumulative weighing down and creation of uncertainty. In addition, you have legislation which makes it more expensive to hire people, and you carry out a policy of public spending whereby public sector wages are going up by 6.6 per cent a year, and private sector by 4.2 and that is stopping the Bank of England from reducing interest rates, which would help as well. So there’s a whole series of things which are not appropriate.”

In a withering attack, Alastair Campbell said public support for the prime minister was “draining away” fast, adding that the government had “no compiling narrative” and had scored ‘too many own goals.’

The intervention by Mr Campbellcomes amid reports the prime minister has apologised to his health secretary Wes Streeting over a briefing operation against him on Tuesday evening from within Downing Street.

Mr Campbell said the prime minister needs to reassert control as he faces demands to sack his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney over the claims made by sources that Mr Streeting was preparing to launch a leadership coup.

Alastair Campbell, former director of communications at Number 10, said Downing Street needs to “get a grip” as Sir Keir Starmer faces a leadership row following briefings against Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Campbell said he believed the Labour Party’s strategy “isn’t going very well”.

He said: “The worst thing about recent days is it’s made a relatively new government look like the last lot.

“There are bigger, worse enemies – like Nigel Farage.”

“Get a grip,” he added.

Amid concerns around the Budget, pressure remains on Sir Keir Starmer following a leadership row following briefings against Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Former Labour communication chief Tom Baldwin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he believes the Prime Minister is going “nowhere”.

Asked whether he thinks the Prime Minister is in control, Mr Baldwin said: “I think this is the time where he really can get a grip on this.”

The former journalist, known to be close to the Prime Minister, added: “Keir Starmer is going nowhere out of Downing Street.”

Mr Baldwin’s comments come as Sir Keir faces pressure to overhaul his “toxic” Downing Street operation, after the Health Secretary criticised briefings from No 10 suggesting that he was plotting a coup.

Speaking to Sky News yesterday, Mr Streeting said the “juvenile” briefing against him showed problems with the culture in Sir Keir’s administration.

Scott Gardner, investment strategist at JP Morgan Personal Investing, has said that more pressure is on the upcoming Budget after the weak GDP figures.

“All eyes will now be on the upcoming Budget with another weak GDP reading only adding to debates around which levers the Chancellor can pull to stimulate growth. In our view, boosting housing market activity is key to unlocking decent, sustained growth.

“This is especially important as recent uncertainty around potential changes to stamp duty and council tax has impacted overall sales and led to a softening in some parts of the market, like London.”

Reacting to today’s quarterly GDP figures, Ashwin Kumar, director of research and policy at IPPR, said: “The UK continues to show unspectacular economic growth. Today’s figures emphasise the need for the government to continue with its policies to boost public and private investment, reform the planning system, and improve our trading relationship with the EU.

“The government needs to consider how it can provide more certainty to businesses looking to build and look at how it can reform taxes to promote growth.

“This quarter’s GDP figures were also affected by a major cyber attack on one car manufacturer, emphasising the real effects of cyber crime, and the economic value of measures to protect the UK from such activity.”