Starmer latest: PM on the brink as ministers demand he resign ahead of cabinet showdown

Rachel Reeves has arrived in Downing Street ahead of a high-stakes Cabinet showdown on Tuesday morning.

She did not respond to questions from reporters as she entered No 11.

UK long-term borrowing costs have surged higher as Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership comes under increasing pressure.

The yield on 30-year UK government bonds – also known as gilts – jumped as much as 11 basis points to 5.785 per cent in Tuesday-morning trading, edging back up to within touching distance of the 28-year high recorded last week.

The yield on 10-year gilts also rose back above 5 per cent, lifting by 10 basis points to 5.101 per cent, but remains below recent highs reported last month.

Gilt yields move counter to the value of the bonds, meaning their prices fall when yields rise.

Rising yields on these bonds mean it costs more for governments to borrow from financial markets.

The pound also weakened further amid the UK political instability while stocks on the London market dropped sharply.

Sterling fell 0.5 per cent to 1.35 US dollars and was 0.2 per cent lower at 1.15 euro.

The FTSE 100 Index dropped more than 1 per cent in opening trade, later settling 95.57 points lower at 10173.86.

The prime minister is facing one of the most difficult days of his career this morning as a growing number of his own MPs call for his resignation.

We’ll be bringing you all the latest in this blog – and you can watch our livestream from Downing Street below:

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Darren Jones said “there’s a lot of fantasy politics going on” when asked about the possibility of Andy Burnham returning to the Cabinet.

The chief secretary to the prime minister was asked if he could foresee a recognition that Cabinet could benefit from someone “with a lot of electoral support” like the Greater Manchester mayor.

Responding, he told BBC Breakfast: “There’s a lot of fantasy politics going on at the moment, Keir Starmer won a historic majority less than two years ago at the ballot box alongside all of us in the Labour Party.”

He told the programme that he spoke to Sir Keir on Monday night, adding that being prime minister “is a gruelling job” and “our job in Cabinet is to support the prime minister to deliver on his ambitions for the country, but also to enable him to do his job as well as possible”.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Darren Jones is normally Sir Keir Starmer’s main cheerleader. Whenever the prime minister finds himself in trouble, he sends his chief secretary out into the Commons or onto the airwaves to defend him. And typically, when a prime minister finds himself on the brink of resignation, the minister they sound out onto the morning broadcast round throws the kitchen sink at trying to defend them (and insist that they’re not going anywhere).

But Darren Jones – for perhaps the first time in his broadcast round career – was muted. He admitted that he “is sad” more than five times in the space of thirty seconds, refused to say whether he thinks the PM will lead Labour into the next election and declined to answer when asked if he thinks Sir Keir should quit.

If that was the best the government had to offer when it comes to morale-boosting-cheerleaders this morning, its really not looking good for Starmer.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Darren Jones has suggested Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to set out a timetable for his departure, insisting he is “talking and listening” to colleagues who have called for him to go.

The PM’s chief secretary told Times Radio: “The prime minister is talking to colleagues, obviously a number of them have said publicly yesterday that they want him to take a particular course of action. As any leader would, he’s talking and listening to those colleagues. I can’t get ahead of what the prime minister may or may not decide.”

Asked directly whether he is considering setting out a timetable to step down before the next election, Mr Jones said: “He’s listening to colleagues and he’s talking to colleagues. As I say, I can’t get ahead of any decision he may or may not take…It’s for the prime minister to decide what he may or may not want to do in the future.”

He added: “It’s right for any leader to listen to members of their team if they want to express their views on these issues. And it’s right that he’s listening to them. I think it’d be worse if he wasn’t.”

Darren Jones has denied the prime minister’s job is “up for grabs” as he defended Sir Keir Starmer this morning.

Asked on Times Radio if Sir Keir Starmer’s job was “up for grabs”, Mr Jones said: “No, and look, the vast majority of members of the Parliamentary Labour Party, of ministers, of members of the cabinet, are focused on getting to the office today and getting on with the job that we were elected to do.

“I appreciate that we had an awful set of election results last week and that many colleagues are hurting as a consequence of that. And it’s right that we have a conversation about the lessons to be learned there.

“But I would just say to my colleagues that we can have those conversations in private, we can agree a way forward … there’s a way to have these conversations and a way not to have them.”

Speaking about the job of prime minister, he added: “It’s a gruelling job. I think anybody who thinks that they can just walk into the job of prime minister and, like the second coming of the Messiah, fix all of our problems probably hasn’t really thought carefully enough about how difficult it is.”

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Cabinet minister Darren Jones declined to say whether he thinks Sir Keir Starmer should resign or not, insisting he won’t “get into private conversations”.

Asked what he thinks the prime minister should do as he faces mounting questions over his future, The chief secretary to the prime minister told Sky News: “Now, look, I’m not going to get into private conversations of other Cabinet colleagues. I wouldn’t have been in the room for a number of them.

“I’d say at the front of my mind is that we’re getting up and getting on with the job, because I think it’s a dereliction of duty to do anything otherwise. And politics is a team sport. Politics is hard.

“We’ve got hard challenges in the country. We’ve had a hard set of results last Thursday, but we rise and fall together.”

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Darren Jones has said he is “a bit sad” when asked about the situation in government.

Amid growing calls for Sir Keir Starmer to resign, the chief secretary to the prime minister told Sky News: “I’m a bit sad, to be honest, because I’m sad that we’re in this situation in the first place.

“I’m sad about the election results last Thursday, when we lost many brilliant colleagues across the country, some of whom have served their local communities for many decades.

“So I’m sad that my team, my party has ended up with a poor set of results, and I’m sad that a number of colleagues yesterday have felt the need to have this conversation in public, as opposed to internally, within the within the party.

“So I am a bit sad about that, to be honest, but, but I’m also optimistic about the future, because we still we’ve only been in government now for less than two years.

“We had a very significant mandate at the last election to deliver on our manifesto commitments.”