Sir Alex Ferguson advised Keir Starmer on winning the general election and booting out the Tories

Legendary Scots football boss Sir Alex Ferguson has advised Keir Starmer on kicking the Tories out of Government.

The Labour leader hailed the ex-Manchester Utd manager as a “winner” who had offered help on securing the keys to Downing Street.

He also said a Labour Government would take millions of children out of poverty and promised to “listen” to Scots leader Anas Sarwar on scrapping the two child benefit cap.

Polls show Starmer is on the cusp of a historic general election win, with the Tories forecast to have their worst ever result.

In an interview with the Record, he revealed how a recent meeting with Labour-supporting Sir Alex had inspired him:

“I actually spoke to him just a few weeks ago up at Old Trafford and as you would imagine this was a private meeting, but he was on it as ever with that winning mentality.

“He is someone who has always had strong values that have gone through everything that he’s done, Labour values of course, with that real focus on winning but also Sir Alex has never forgotten his roots. It was really good for me to be able to have a chat with him.”

Sir Alex won ten trophies during an incredible run as Aberdeen manager before becoming the most successful ever Manchester Utd boss.

Starmer said: “He gave me some of his views on where we should go. His mentality and my mentality are similar in this respect, that he knows the single objective when you are building a football team, running a football team, managing a football team, is to win. There is no end of evidence as to his skills as a winner.”

“My objective is to put my team, my Labour party, in a position where we can win.”

“It was great to talk to him. It’s the values, the history, the roots with Alex which has made him what he is.”

Starmer is supporting England at Euro 2024, but he is backing Scotland in Sunday’s crunch group game against Hungary:

“I will be rooting for Scotland and I was rooting for them in the previous games. I will root for them for as long as I can in this competition, and I hope they get through and out of the group stage.”

“There’s a chance of getting this over the line.”

With less than a fortnight to go in the election, Starmer is the hot favourite to become the first Labour prime minister in fourteen years.

Asked if July 4th is the most important general election in Scotland’s history, he said:

“Yes I do,” he said, adding that the election is a chance to “turn the page” with Labour after over a decade of “chaos, division and failure”.

He said his Government will take immediate steps to set up the publicly-owned GB Energy, boost the Scottish economy and increase wages:

“Scottish Labour MPs, if they are returned, will sit at the heart of Government and that will be a Government absolutely intent on delivering for Scotland.

“The road to Number 10 runs through Scotland.”

The last Labour Government lifted millions of older people and children out of poverty and Starmer has been accused of lacking focus in this area.

However, asked if his ambition is to take millions of kids out of poverty, he said:

“Yes, it is to replicate what we did under the last Labour Government to drive child poverty right down. We can get going on that straight away by tackling the underlying causes of poverty.”

Starmer has been criticised by the SNP for failing to commit to scrapping the two child benefit cap, with Sarwar also saying he will press him to get rid of the penalty.

The Record asked Starmer what his response would be to Sarwar’s pleas:

“To listen to what he has to say, as I always do, and to listen to what I hope will be Labour MPs. I don’t have a magic wand. I can’t pretend the economy isn’t damaged in the way that it was under this Government. I’m not going to make commitments that aren’t costed or funded.”

“Would I expect Anas to make his views known to me? Of course I would, that’s the way we operate.”

He also had a pop at the SNP and Tory Governments over standards in public life.

The Scottish Government was damaged by the Michael Matheson scandal and the Tories are under siege over countless ethics rows.

The Labour leader said: “They’ve both got unelected leaders. They’ve both failed to deliver in government and they’ve both got scant regard for standards in public life.”

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