WATCH: “Everything is riding” on US election outcome, says Nandy

Labour’s Lisa Nandy has criticised Donald Trump’s decision to prematurely declare victory in the US election and declared that as a result “everything is riding on the outcome of this election”.

In an interview with Good Morning Britain today, the Shadow Foreign Secretary argued that in a “normal election” Labour would be more impartial but statements from the President had put the country’s very democracy “at stake”.

The Labour foreign affairs spokesperson told the ITV programme this morning: “We are in completely uncharted territory, and this is not like any election in my lifetime.

“If this was an ordinary election, as somebody aspiring to be the next Foreign Secretary with whoever is elected potentially still in the White House, I would be saying to you that of course as a progressive politician I have very close ties to the Biden campaign, but it’s up to the American people to make a choice.

“The truth is Britain is not just a disinterested observer in this election. Everything is riding on the outcome of this election and I think that statement in the last few minutes has proven why. That questions of democracy, peoples right to be heard and free and fair elections are absolutely at stake in this election.

“America has, for a long time, stepped into the role as leader of the free world. And what America does matters, it sends reverberations around the world and so there is a huge amount riding on the outcome of this election.”

The US election is currently ongoing with several key swing states, such as Pennsylvania and Michigan, yet to declare a winner. Trump currently has 213 electoral college votes to Joe Biden’s 238 – 270 are needed to win.

But Nandy’s intervention comes after the incumbent President already claimed victory in the US election even though millions of votes have yet to be counted and the results in the remaining swing states is far from clear.

Speaking in the early hours this morning, Trump claimed: “We will win this and as far as I’m concerned, we already have won it.” He also said they would be going to the Supreme Court to ensure voting would stop.

His comments sparked fears that the President would attempt to discount mail-in and early ballots in key swing states that are still being processed as illegitimate – ballots that are expected to be more in favour of Biden.

In an email to supporters shortly after Trump’s comments, Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said that it was a “naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens”.

Various other Labour figures have also criticised Trump’s statements in relation to the ongoing election in the US, including backbench MPs Jess Phillips and Dawn Butler, as well as Richard Leonard.

The Scottish Labour leader said the controversial statement from Trump was a “deeply alarming development” and even said the President’s actions were making him a “threat to democracy” in the US.

Nandy declared last week at a Politico event that the Conservative Party has “chased growth and trade deals at the expense of having a proper foreign policy in relation to the world” over its past ten years in government.