A defiant Sir Keir Starmer insisted he “will not walk away” and has vowed to fight on as Labour leader and prime minister after his party received a pummelling in local elections across the UK.
With Nigel Farage’s Reform taking hundreds of seats in both Labour and Tory heartlands, and a surge in support for the Green Party, the prime minister said he took full responsibility for the defeats, with Labour on course for record losses.
MPs on the left of the party and trade union leaders have demanded he set a timetable for his resignation, but ministers have insisted there will be no attempt to push Sir Keir out.
Meeting Labour activists in London as the results came in, Sir Keir vowed: “I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.”
In a coordinated effort to bolster his position, senior ministers posted their support for the embattled PM, but there was silence from potential leadership candidates Wes Streeting, Shabana Mahmood, Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham.
Sir Keir’s words came as the electoral map in the UK was being redrawn.
- Reform stormed councils around the country, taking control of Essex and Suffolk from the Tories, Havering in London, and Barnsley, which was previously Labour
- Reform also made huge gains at Labour’s expense in the northwest of England, raising the question of whether Andy Burnham or Angela Rayner could replace Sir Keir
- In Scotland, the SNP were the largest party, but without a majority, while Labour and Reform battled for second place
Speaking in Romford, Mr Farage insisted history was being made with the election results. “I can honestly say you are witnessing a historic shift in British politics. This [Reform UK] is now the most national of all parties,” he said.
Mr Farage claimed that victory for Reform in Essex meant that Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and five members of her shadow cabinet would lose their seats in a general election.
But the Tories clung to victory in London, taking back control of Westminster Council from Labour and winning an effective majority in Wandsworth.
Ms Badenoch said: “The Conservatives are coming back. From Westminster to Wandsworth, Harlow to Bexley, Fareham to Broxbourne, people can see we are a party renewed. There is much more to do, but we have the plan and team to get Britain working again.”
But going into the weekend, attention is turning to whether Sir Keir can survive as leader and prime minister after a bruising first two years in office, overshadowed by the welfare rebellion and the Peter Mandelson scandal.
Already, the leaders of trade unions, which are among Labour’s biggest supporters, have lined up to demand a change of leadership.
Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, Britain’s largest union, said: “Labour faces oblivion because it is not delivering for the vast majority of people. What must change is not just the leader but the entire approach: only a Labour government which always puts the interests of workers before the wealthy can succeed.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The writing is on the wall for this Labour government, and it could be the beginning of the end for the party itself. The working class have been abandoned and have delivered their verdict.”
FBU general secretary Steve Wright said Labour’s “devastating election results” were a “consequence of Keir Starmer’s government failing to deliver for working people”, while TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said Labour “urgently needs a leadership election” with a candidate who can “stop the very real danger of a far-right government coming to power in this country”.
However, with Labour losing all of the council seats fought in Wigan, and 16 of the 17 in Tameside, Greater Manchester, which includes Ms Rayner’s constituency, the results disappointed those who had hoped Ms Rayner or Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham might replace Sir Keir.
While most Labour MPs kept their counsel, a number came out swinging to claim that enough was enough.
Stroud MP Simon Opher, previously a Starmer loyalist, turned on the PM, warning: “If we go into the next election with [Starmer] as leader we will get slaughtered. I feel he is holding us back.”
Norwich South MP Clive Lewis, whose local city council was taken by the Greens, said: “He [Starmer] has to outline his timetable for departure by the autumn. It’s a non-negotiable.”
As Labour lost control of Leeds, Richard Burgon, an MP in the city, warned that the “defeat has Keir Starmer’s name written all over it”. He added: “It is clear that Keir has fought his last election as Labour leader, and deep down, he will know it. The party should now work towards a timetable for an orderly transition to a new leader by the end of this year.”
Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said: “I am sickened that leaders of the Labour party – Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together – destroyed Labour.”
But another critic, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, warned that a period of reflection was needed and there should not be a coup to replace Sir Keir.
Deputy prime minister David Lammy insisted “you should not change the pilot mid-flight”, calling for Sir Keir to be given more time to get the party back on course.
As MPs lined up to demand a change of leadership, cabinet ministers and grandees pushed back, saying Sir Keir should stay.
Housing secretary Steve Reed tweeted: “The last thing the country wants is the Labour Party to talk about the Labour Party. The British public don’t want to hear about timelines, backroom deals and navel-gazing.”
Tech secretary Liz Kendall told BBC News: “He’s not going to go, and he’s not going to set a timetable.”
And Baroness Morgan, who had been critical of Sir Keir during the election campaign, took personal responsibility for losing her seat as Labour was humiliated in Wales. She said: “Keir Starmer was not on the ballot; I take responsibility for this defeat.”
However, Scottish leader Anas Sarwar insisted he stands by his view expressed earlier this year that Sir Keir should stand down, admitting that Scottish Labour lost the “argument for change”. In February, he called on the prime minister to resign in relation to the row over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US and the peer’s subsequent sacking due to his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking on Friday, as the SNP looked set to be the largest party in Holyrood, a dejected Mr Sarwar said: “We made an argument for change, and ultimately, it’s an argument we lost.”
Sir Keir admitted he was “hurt” by the results but said he took full responsibility. He said: “The results are tough. They are very tough. There is no sugar-coating this. We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country.
“These are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party and our movement. And that hurts. And it should hurt. And I take responsibility.”
But he added: “I am not going to walk away.”
Meanwhile, with the Greens making gains from Labour, their leader Zack Polanski joined Mr Farage in declaring the “death of two-party politics in Britain”.
His party ran Labour close in Islington, while also gaining control of Waltham Forest in London and winning the mayoralties in Lewisham and Hackney.
Hailing the victory of new Hackney mayor Zoe Garbett, Mr Polanski said: “People are sick and tired of Labour, but also really excited about a Green alternative, which is about protecting people and our planet. I said I wanted to replace Labour and we will.”
Liberal Democrat gains included taking control of Portsmouth and West Surrey, and winning every seat in Richmond in London.
Leader Sir Ed Davey said: “As results continue to come in, the Liberal Democrats are winning big in former Conservative heartlands. In areas like Surrey it’s clear the Conservatives are finished, and it’s now between the Liberal Democrats and Reform.”
