Ed Balls under attack as he 'loses his mojo': Labour MPs call for Shadow Chancellor to be replaced after recession blunder

• Senior party sources alarmed by growing criticism of Mr Balls
• Follows Tory taunts after he predicted cuts would prolong the recession
• Also struggling to respond to evidence the economy is on the mend
  

By SIMON WALTERS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Published: 17:01 EST, 18 January 2014 | Updated: 18:22 EST, 18 January 2014

Under fire: Senior party sources say they are alarmed by growing criticism of the Shadow Chancellor by his own backbenchers

Labour MPs have called for  Ed Balls to be demoted following claims that he has ‘lost his mojo’ after falsely forecasting the economy would get worse.

Senior party sources say they  are alarmed by growing criticism of the Shadow Chancellor by his own backbenchers.

It follows Tory taunts that  Mr Balls made a major blunder by predicting cuts would prolong the recession.

He is also struggling to respond to increasing evidence that the economy is on the mend.

One MP said: ‘Balls used to throw his weight around in Shadow Cabinet meetings and ignore Ed Miliband when he spoke.

'Now Balls is totally out of sorts. He doesn’t say much at Shadow Cabinet meetings and when he does, he is the one who is ignored. He has lost his mojo.’

A veteran Labour MP added: ‘For years Balls has walked around Westminster with a swagger.  Only a fool predicts what the economy is going to do because no one really knows.

'He has become a liability and must be replaced if we are to have economic credibility.’

However, replacing the Shadow Chancellor would not be easy.

Possible successors such as high-flyers Chuka Umunna and Rachel Reeves are still considered too inexperienced, while respected  former Chancellor Alistair Darling is spearheading the campaign  to keep Scotland within the UK. 

In a further sign of Mr Balls’s diminishing power, Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander has delivered a public rebuke to him for cosying up to  Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

He said: ‘If Clegg wasn’t at the Cabinet table, we wouldn’t have had the bedroom tax, the rise in tuition fees or the mistakes we’ve seen in economic policy.’

Potential candidates: Possible successors such as high-flyers Chuka Umunna and Rachel Reeves are still considered too inexperienced to replace Ed Balls