Keir Starmer panic as leftie coalition set to cause Labour meltdown | Politics | News
Sir Keir Starmer was preparing to hold a rare “political” Cabinet meeting on the morning of Tuesday (March 10) following the disastrous Gorton and Denton by-elections, with Labor fearing the party would face heavy losses in May’s local elections. In a by-election in the Manchester constituency earlier this month, Labor fell to third place behind the Greens and Reform in one of Labour’s safest seats. The victory came after Mr Corbyn’s Your Party and Mr Galloway’s British Labor Party agreed to step aside to avoid splitting the far-left and Muslim vote.
Now an election expert has warned there is “potential” for the experiment to be repeated nationally in May in what would be the biggest test of public opinion since the 2024 General Election.
“We saw the Greens, Labor and Your Party working together successfully in Gorton, and now there is the potential to do so again in many other places, including London,” Robert Hayward said at a press conference on Monday (March 9).
“If they work together and the Greens can maintain their current poll scores, then the potential threat to Labor is very serious indeed,” he added.
Party insiders have already warned that Labor, which currently controls 21 of London’s 32 boroughs, could lose hundreds of seats to the Green Party, even in areas such as Sir Keir’s North London constituency, Holborn, and St Pancras, which are currently represented only by Labor councillors.
*** Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us your Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings. ***
His Tory peer also warned his own leadership ambitions could take a hit if Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s local council in Redbridge, north-east London, is lost to Labor. In the last election, Streeting managed to retain his seat by just 500 votes (33.4%) after a strong challenge from pro-Gaza independent Leanne Mohamad (32.3%).
“If you are arguing that you want to be leader of the party, it would be a little more difficult if Labor failed to set up your own local council,” Lord Hayward added.
Around 5,000 council seats across 136 English councils will be decided on May 7, along with the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales. The election is seen as a litmus test for whether Sir Keir can survive as prime minister after months of low poll ratings.
According to last week’s YouGov poll, Zack Polanki’s party received 21% of the vote, up four points from the previous week. As a result, the Green Party took the Labor Party to second place, while Reform came first with 23% of the votes. Labor and the Conservatives came in third place with 16 percent of the vote.
