Labour minister tells those worried about economy to 'get stuffed'

A Labour minister has insisted that the government is making progress towards economic stability despite growing pressure to plug a fiscal gap opened by a series of policy U-turns. Torsten Bell, treasury minister and MP for Swansea West said "gloomsters" criticising the government's economic progress since taking power just over a year ago could "get stuffed". Analyses of Labour's first year in Number 10 have tended towards the critical, with a disastrous backbench rebellion over Sir Keir Starmer's welfare bill crystallising the issues of in-party dissent and economic uncertainty that have dogged officials over the last 12 months.

Mr Bell adopted a rosier tone in a video message posted to X shortly after the one-year anniversary of the general election on July 4, urging his followers to remember a handful of "reasons to be cheerful". "The sun is shining. The sea is warming up. Wages have risen more in the first 10 months of this government than the first 10 years of the last one," he said.

"And waiting lists are falling month after month after month at least under a Labour government.

"There's a long way to do. But the gloomsters? They can get stuffed."

While the UK economy saw growth of 0.7% in the first half of 2025, largely driven by the services sector, experts have predicted a slowdown in the latter half of the year in a trend linked to factors including Donald Trump's trade tariffs.

Sir Keir Starmer said his first year in office would focus on "cleaning up" the mess inherited from previous administrations, but critics have suggested the period was instead dominated by a series of U-turns, including a partial reversal of winter fuel payment cuts and the last-minute move to launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

The Prime Minister's personal popularity was among the lowest of any British leader after their first 12 months in office - a stark contrast from the majority with which he swept into power last summer, just short of Sir Tony Blair's 1997 landslide.

Perceptions of Labour's performance during its first year in power were unavoidably coloured by the government's offer of major concessions to its welfare bill last week, seeing off the threat of a major Commons defeat over the legislation by shelving plans to restrict eligibility for personal independent payments (PIP), the main disability benefit in England.

The original welfare proposals had been part of a package that ministers expected to save up to £5 billion a year, with the U-turn leaving Chancellor Rachel Reeves with no choice but to look for the money elsewhere.