5 min read
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been put on notice by Labour MPs after a dismal set of local election results.
Speaking on Friday morning, he vowed not to “walk away” from No 10 after watching his party bleed support across the country, in multiple directions. “Tough days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised. They strengthen my resolve,” the PM said.
But by the end of the day, the pressure on his leadership had hit a new high, with Labour MPs who Starmer allies cannot simply dismiss as the usual suspects publicly declaring that he may have to stand down for the good of their party.
Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary who co-chairs the Tribune group of soft left MPs, said Starmer cannot lead the party into the next year’s local elections, never mind the next general election, if he does not deliver an urgent change of course.
She was followed by Sarah Owen, Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, who agreed that Starmer will have to be removed from Downing Street unless he “delivers tangible change and truly connects with the public on a human level”.
Once Friday had drawn to a close, the list of Labour MPs who had publicly questioned whether Starmer should fight for the next election, or who had gone further and called on him to announce a departure timetable now, had grown significantly.
The concern for the PM and his allies as they head into the weekend will be that patience is wearing thin across the Parliamentary Labour Party, not just in a single section of it.
As one senior Labour MP put it to PoliticsHome on Friday: “It’s easier when one person has moved… I don’t think it’s factional, it’s a broad feeling.”
“This is not just the left of the party,” warned a different Labour MP.
Meanwhile, a typically loyal Labour minister told PoliticsHome: “It’s time to go. I don’t care who [comes next].”
Labour has lost over 1,400 council seats across England at the time of writing, with the results confirming party strategists’ worst fears that it is haemorrhaging support both to the Greens on its left and Reform UK on its right. In Wales, where Labour has been in power since the turn of the century, and has deep historical links, it has plummeted to a distant third place.
“We can’t do another election like this,” said the senior Labour MP quoted above. “It’s not fair to the people we represent. It’s not fair to the councillors and the handful of activists we have left.”
PoliticsHome understands that one proposal that is being pushed by Labour MPs who want a resignation timetable is for Starmer to resign by the end of the year.
This, in theory, would allow for what is being described as an orderly transition, while also giving Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham enough time to find a vacant House of Commons seat and return to Parliament.
One publicly loyal minister said the local election results had made them “more pro-Burnham” than they were before. “How can you not be, frankly?”
Mainstream, the soft group with links to Burnham, is due to hold a call on Monday to discuss next steps, PoliticsHome understands, while the Red Wall caucus of Labour MPs representing seats in northern England and the Midlands will hold its own meeting on Wednesday.
Writing in The House on Friday, Ipsos’ Ben Roff said the polling company’s latest data shows that Labour cannot afford to ignore Burnham, arguing that he is best placed to help the party to win back progressive voters from the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.
The Times reported on Thursday that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband suggested to Starmer that he should consider setting out a timetable for his departure in a private conversation earlier this month. A spokesperson for Miliband said they did not accept this account of the conversation, but did tell the newspaper how it differed.
Starmer’s cabinet has publicly come to his defence as the Prime Minister looks to shore up his position in the coming days. “Keir has won before, he can win again. We need to deliver change, not chaos,” posted Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. One of Labour’s worst results of the night came in Phillipson’s Sunderland, where Labour lost 49 councillors, and Reform won 58, giving Nigel Farage’s party control of the council.
Labour MPs most loyal to Starmer are trying to play down the 7 May results.
“It’s a bad set of results – but not as bad as was predicted”, one told PoliticsHome.
Another added: “I don’t believe the country will suddenly improve just by changing prime minister. Whoever carried the burden of leading Britain at this time would face the same set of challenges that Labour inherited two years ago.”
On Monday, Starmer is expected to give a speech designed to boost Labour MPs’ faith that he is still the best person to turn it around.
Labour MPs are urging the Prime Minister to be genuinely “bold” and “radical”, with one telling PoliticsHome that he should announce a policy to rejoin the European Union.
“Which number reset are we on now?” joked one of his backbenchers.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Starmer would have his support when he delivers his speech, adding: I’ll continue putting my shoulder to the wheel as the Health and Social Care Secretary, who’s getting the NHS back on its feet and making sure it’s fit for the future.”
The third leading leadership contender, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, had not yet broken her silence as of early Saturday morning.
Additional reporting by Sienna Rodgers, Tom Scotson and Zoë Crowther
