Starmer lends support to England team amid criticism of Euros performance

The Labour leader urged people to ‘get behind the team’ after criticism from leading football pundits.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer (centre right) during a visit to Northampton Town Football Club (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

Sir Keir Starmer has lent his support to the England football team amid criticism from veteran former players of their performance so far at the Euros.

Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have been among the most vocal critics of Gareth Southgate’s team in recent days.

They have criticised the form of captain Harry Kane and the team’s overall display, after they laboured to a 1-1 draw against Denmark in their second group game on Saturday.

In an interview with Talk, to be broadcast on Tuesday, the Labour leader was asked for his take on the sporting drama.

A really important game is coming up. Let’s just get behind the team

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

Asked whether he agreed with Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, Sir Keir said: “I back the England team on this, I think look, they’re in the middle of this competition.

“A really important game is coming up. Let’s just get behind the team.

“You know, we’ve done this before. England – we sort of never, I don’t think, have a particularly great start to these competitions.

“But then we click, we pull together. It’s a fantastic team and I am going to back them all the way.”

England will play Slovenia on Tuesday in Cologne, in their final game of the group stages.

The team has already qualified for the knockout stage of the competition after Albania’s failure to beat Spain on Monday.

Manager Southgate has said he is “oblivious” to the criticism.