“Utter garbage”: Yvette Cooper denies succession pact story

The Times front page today runs with claims that Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper have met in secret to discuss their contingency plans if Ed Miliband resigns (£). The paper claims that the pair would present a united front, possible on some sort of joint ticket, with one source quoted as saying “It’s about presenting a joint offer to make a contest unnecessary”.

Cooper has this morning hit back at the story as “utter garbage” and claimed that the paper had been informed that the story had no basis in truth before going to print.

A spokesperson for the Shadow Home Secretary said:

“This story is not true, has no foundation to it whatsoever and the Times were informed of that in the most unequivocal and categoric of terms before they decided to put it on their front page.

“The spreading of lies like this only damages the Labour Party and should be seen as exactly what it is – complete and utter garbage.

“Yvette, the shadow cabinet and the party are united behind Ed’s leadership”

So far, no Labour MPs have publicly called for Miliband to go, and The Times reports that it is understood that only two have made the demand in private. LabourList this morning have called for anonymous critics to “put up or shut up”.