Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy joins picket line in Wigan

Last week an MP was sacked for supporting striking workers

Keir Starmer is facing a second test on his leadership this morning, after another one of his frontbenchers defied party orders and joined a picket line in support of striking BT/Openreach workers. Labour's shadow minister for Levelling up, Lisa Nandy joined a group of CWU workers in her Wigan constituency on Monday morning. It comes after Labour’s biggest union, Unite, threatened to pull all funding from the party over Sir Keir's refusal to back strike action.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said the party was becoming "irrelevant to workers" and the Labour leadership was "sticking two fingers up" at strike action.

https://twitter.com/NWCWU/status/1554030292184219648?s=20&t=TL1hnF7iVG4Ydd6mckKMgg Last week, a Labour MP lost his job as shadow transport minister after showing solidarity on the picket line during a rail strike. On Wednesday morning, Labour's Shadow Transport minister Sam Tarry stood alongside striking workers at London Euston station in Central London, as 40,000 members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport unions walked out. He was subsequently sacked that afternoon. https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1553298350472015872?s=20&t=yQZnnQFRz3h_pzF1Szf5sg This is a breaking news story and will be updated...