Labour's big guns 'supportive of leader'

Senior Shadow Cabinet member Yvette Cooper yesterday rejected suggestions that Ed Miliband had made a lacklustre start to his time as Labour leader.

Ms Cooper and her husband Ed Balls have both been tipped as possible successors to Mr Miliband if he is ousted as leader.

But she yesterday insisted that the Shadow Cabinet team were "very supportive" of their leader and said he had already laid some punches on the Tories over issues such as housing benefit and school sports.

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Speculation over Mr Miliband's future has heightened following poor performances in a BBC interview and at Prime Minister's Questions, while his Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson has disagreed with him on key issues like the future of the 50p top rate of income tax and university fees.

Ladbrokes yesterday halved its odds on Mr Johnson replacing Mr Miliband from 33-1 to 16-1 after receiving a "substantial gamble" on him, and cut the odds on a change in Labour's leadership before the next election from 5-2 to 2-1.

Mr Miliband has also faced criticism for taking two weeks' paternity leave shortly after he became leader.

But Ms Cooper told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show that he was "exactly right" to take time off after the birth of his son Samuel.

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She added: "He is doing a very good job and has got a very supportive team around him.

"If you look at some of the things Ed has been focused on - housing benefit reforms are now being delayed, on school sports there's been a rethink. He is right to focus on these issues."

Ms Cooper said she backed Mr Miliband's preferred option of a graduate tax to fund universities.

And she supported his decision to call a lengthy policy review to reassess Labour's entire platform.

She said: "I think what he is doing is to start out by saying we need to reflect on what went wrong for Labour in the run-up to the last election. That's not a quick process."