Starmer refuses to shift ‘left or right’ amid pressure over electoral mauling
Sir Keir Starmer vows to unite party but faces pressure from MPs after heavy losses
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to listen to voters but refused to shift “left or right” despite pressure to change course and backbench calls for a new leader following Labour’s electoral mauling.
The Prime Minister said responding to “tough” results, which saw Labour lose hundreds of councillors in England and suffer humiliation in Wales, would mean “being assertive in our values” and “unifying rather than dividing”.
The ruling party haemorrhaged support in former strongholds while Reform UK made stunning gains and Plaid Cymru became the largest party in a Senedd election that left outgoing First Minister Eluned Morgan without a seat.
The results have reignited rumblings of a leadership contest, with some backbench MPs openly calling on Sir Keir to set out a timetable for his departure and others urging an immediate change in direction.
But in a defiant op-ed for the Guardian, the Prime Minister wrote: “While we must respond to the message that voters have sent us, that doesn’t mean tacking right or left.
“It means bringing together a broad political movement, being assertive about our values, bold in our vision and addressing people’s demands.
“Unifying rather than dividing. That is the right approach for our party and, more importantly, it is the right approach for our country.”
He said concerns expressed among different communities have “more in common than some would like to admit,” with the cost of living uniting voters across the board.
“Our job is to convince them that we have progressive answers to the problems and challenges that they face,” Sir Keir said.
Labour also suffered from voters switching to the Green Party as Zack Polanski said the era of two-party politics “is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried”.
Former Cabinet minister Louise Haigh told ITV Calendar: “I think what is abundantly clear is that unless the Government delivers significant and urgent change, then the Prime Minister cannot lead us into another election.”
Richard Burgon, leader of the Socialist Campaign Group of left-wing Labour MPs, demanded Sir Keir set out a timetable for his departure.
“It is clear that Keir has fought his last election as Labour leader and, deep down, he will know it,” he said.
Mr Burgon warned against a “stitch up” of the type that prevented Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
The Greater Manchester mayor is widely viewed as a potential challenger to Sir Keir if he can find a way to win a by-election to return to Westminster.
Andrea Egan, general secretary of the Unison union, warned “Labour faces political oblivion because it’s simply not delivering for the majority of people” and “there’ll clearly be a change of Labour leader sooner or later”.
But an apparently co-ordinated campaign was mounted to shore up support for Sir Keir, with ministers and Labour grandees warning against the disruption of a leadership contest.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the results were “brutal” but “the last thing we need is to descend into a vanity leadership contest”, while others warned against “navel-gazing” and “just blaming the boss”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has continued to attract speculation about his ambitions despite publicly denying plans for a leadership tilt, said the Prime Minister will “have my support” in setting out how the Government will move forward on Monday.
But facing questions from reporters on Friday night as he attended the count for Redbridge Council, where the party hopes to hold on to its majority, he declined to say whether he believed Sir Keir was the right person to lead Labour into the next general election.
“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,” he said.
Key developments after 127 of 136 English councils had declared full results are:
– Labour had lost control of 31 councils and suffered a net loss of 1,022 seats.
– Reform gained control of 12 councils and added 1,244 seats.
– The Conservatives suffered a net loss of eight councils and 417 councillors.
– The Liberal Democrats won three councils and gained a net 146 seats.
– The Green Party gained control of four councils and put on 297 councillors.
– In Scotland, after 80 results out of 81 constituencies and regions, the SNP had 57 seats, Labour 17, Reform 15, the Scottish Greens 13, the Conservatives 11 and the Liberal Democrats nine.
– In Wales, Plaid Cymru have 43 seats in the Senedd, with Reform on 34, Labour on nine, the Conservatives on seven, the Greens on two and the Liberal Democrats on one.