Labour will be BEATING the Tories in the polls within a year, John McDonnell claims as Harriet Harman says the party need to ‘get its act together’
The former acting leader hit out at Jeremy Corbyn, and said the party needed to stop shouting at the public that they were wrong
LABOUR will be ahead of the Tories in the polls within a year - the Shadow Chancellor has claimed.
John McDonnell said that his party - which is currently 17 points behind in opinion polls - would soon catch up.
The Shadow Chancellor told Radio 5 Live this morning: People wont vote for a divided party,we know that, that's why we are behind in the polls."
He added: "Once we get past Brexit, we'll unite the Labour party, we'll be back on our agenda, you'll see, I think we'll have a significant impact on the political debate... which will mean we'll go back in front of the Tories in the polls in the next year."
Mr McDonnell continued his thoughts in an interview with , where he admitted the polls could take "a while to turn".
He said: "Now we get past Article 50, we’re then in our terrain in which we’re protecting people from a reckless Brexit the Tories are going to implement…
"The Tories will start ripping themselves apart of the next 12 months. On that basis I think you’ll see that Theresa May’s honeymoon comes to an end."
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His optimism came as former acting leader Harriet Harman hit out at the Labour leader, and said the party needed to "get its act together".
Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, she said that there were "painful echoes of the 1980s" and the party remained "divided".
She went on: "What it needed was for Labour to get its act together instead of shouting at the public and telling the public where they were getting it wrong.
"We are not in the situation we want to be and we really need to sort ourselves out."
And former Shadow Minister Lisa Nandy said Labour needed to stop "abandoning politics for protest" to get anywhere near being electable again.
She told the Huffington Post: "It is not enough to pick a side and shout, especially at the moment when the country feels so needlessly divided... A bit more listening and a bit less talking is in order."
And she said that she was "very, very angry" that people in her constituency had been ignored by the system of freedom of movement.
She added: "The real challenge for Labour is to become the alternative and that means you have to know not just what you are against, but what you are for."
But in a sign of the party's chaos, Mr Corbyn used an interview with the BBC today today to hint that he may NOT sack members of his Shadow Cabinet for voting against Article 50.
He said he was a "very lenient person", but that he would be making an announcement on changes to his frontbench team later this week.