Red-faced Kate Garraway forced to issue Labour apology in awkward GMB clash

Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway was forced to issue an apology to Keir Starmer after making a major U-turn error. On Tuesday (February 17), the Labour Government announced that it will abandon efforts to delay local elections for millions of Brits this year. Ministers announced that Local Government Secretary Steve Reed had decided to withdraw his decision to postpone 30 council elections this May, “in the light of recent legal advice”.  

The postponements had been intended to help deliver a major reorganisation of local authorities, but Reform UK challenged the move in court. The Government has not agreed to pay Reform's legal costs. This marks Labour’s 14th major U-turn since Starmer was elected Labour Leader in 2024.

As they discussed the latest news on the show, Kate Garraway accidentally stumbled on her stats live on air. She said: "Sorry, some papers are saying 14, some are saying 15. I'm trying to be kind to the government!"

Her comments came moments after her co-host Richard Madeley grilled Care Minister Stephen Kinnock about the government's latest U-turn. He asked the Labour minister: "Back bench and some front bench Labour MPs are very angry with their own government for the latest U-turn. Are you one of them? Are you angry?"

The stuttering politician dodged the question, simply replying: “I think it’s important to go back to the basics. We are pushing through reforms to local government because, as things stand, we don’t have a system that is fit for purpose.

“We need something that is more streamlined, more effective. That’s why we’re putting these reforms through. Now, 30 of those councils came back and said we can’t afford to push through these reforms whilst also organising local elections.

"We listened to that, and we’ve agreed to postpone those elections. We had legal advice that said, ‘Yes, you can go ahead and postpone, ’ but that legal advice has now changed."

The presenter went on to brand their legal advice as "complete nonsense", arguing that the party had "caved" at the first opportunity. He stated: "What you're really saying is that the original legal advice was complete nonsense, because if it was sound, you'd be going to court and you'd be fighting Reform, who took this action against you, but you've caved in.

"The reason you've caved in is that the legal scaffolding on which you built the case to cancel 30 local elections has blown over at the first puff of wind." It didn't take long before viewers flocked to X - formerly known as Twitter - to air their frustrations online.

One user penned: "Wow. Gaslighting the public again... disgraceful," as another quipped: "The hilarious thing is, the government are now required to pay the legal costs for Reform's legal challenge."

A third chimed in with: "They should rename the Labour Party, the Pivot Party. At least it would be a true and appropriate name for them before they disappear off the political horizon [eye-rolling emoji]."