Keir Starmer on the brink as he refuses to shift ‘left or right’ after local elections hammering: Live updates

Labor veteran Clive Betts said the Cabinet should make it clear to Sir Keir Starmer that he should go in the ‘not too distant future’.

The Sheffield South East MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today:

I don’t think rebooting and renewing and renewing and all the talk floating around is going to make a difference, unfortunately.

I think there are three scenarios: One is that Keir continues until the next election and we lose, and lose badly.

Secondly, in the end Keir decides to resist and a move is made to get rid of him, there will be an internal fight and then the public does not like parties to fight among themselves, which can lead to electoral defeat.

Or Keir accepts that he must resign in the not-too-distant future for the good of the country and the government.

Reform UK won its seventh council seat from Labor earlier this morning, winning 31 seats in Calderdale in West Yorkshire.

The Labor Party, which previously had 26 seats in the council, lost 18 seats, while the Conservatives lost 10 and the Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats.

Reform UK had already won Gateshead, St Helens, Sandwell, Sunderland, Thurrock and Wakefield from Labor.

A small number of councils in England have yet to announce the results of Thursday’s local elections.

Reform was the biggest winner yet, picking up more than 1,400 councillors.

While the Greens and Liberal Democrats also made gains, Labor lost more than 1,300 seats and the Conservatives more than 500.

Check out all the latest results below:

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to listen to voters but has refused to move ‘left or right’ despite calls behind the scenes for a new leader following Labour’s election blow.

The Prime Minister said responding to the ‘difficult’ results, which saw Labor lose hundreds of councilors in England and be humiliated in Wales, would mean ‘being assertive about our values’ and ‘uniting rather than dividing’.

In a defiant column in the Guardian, the Prime Minister wrote:

While we must respond to the message voters are sending us, that doesn’t mean veering left or right.

This means bringing together a broad political movement, being assertive about our values, bold in our vision, and responding to the demands of the people.

Uniting rather than dividing. “This is the right approach for our party, and more importantly, it is the right approach for our country.”