Ed Miliband returned from holiday today to a row over immigration and grumblings over Labour’s summer performance.
The Labour leader was back at work as shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant was forced to rewrite a speech in which he would have accused Tesco and Next of choosing to hire Eastern Europeans over Britons.
The media had been briefed in advance of extracts of the speech and both retailers strongly protested about the criticism and claimed he had got his facts wrong.
Mr Bryant told the BBC this morning: “I fully accept that Next and Tesco often go the extra mile to recruit local workers.”
Tory MPs accused him of “backtracking” but Mr Bryant insisted he was standing by his general point that more needed to be done to help local workers find jobs.
According to many opinion polls, Labour’s lead over the Tories is being eroded and Mr Miliband will be keen to get his party on the front foot, with a reshuffle mooted within weeks.
Former whip Graham Stringer yesterday became the latest backbencher to voice concerns over the shadow cabinet’s “lack of activity”.
He told the BBC: “The real worry is the almost deafening silence there has been from the shadow cabinet in a time of the year which is traditionally a ripe time for the Opposition to attack the Government.”
