unhelpful

"Speculation is unhelpful and can be downright dangerous, so I just ask that people lower the temperature of the rhetoric," she said.

Others dismissed Burnham's chances of returning to Westminster and said his flirtations with a leadership bid had been unhelpful for the party at a difficult time.

With a challenging campaign ahead, some will see today's public hints of a continuing rift between the party leaders as unhelpful and unwelcome.

The move follows a warning from the service's chief executive that its work was at risk of being "undermined" by "unhelpful politicians" who called for the legislation not to be enforced.

That's due to the size of its automotive sector - unhelpful for an economy that may be teetering on the brink of recession.