Starmer latest: PM defies leadership ultimatum and calls to resign with revival plan for closer EU ties

A cabinet minister has backed Sir Keir Starmer as he tried to downplay Catherine West’s leadership ultimatum.

The Labor MP called on the cabinet to hold a meeting by Monday to choose a candidate to replace Sir Keir, otherwise Keir would launch his own bid.

Asked when this meeting would take place, education minister Bridget Phillipson told Sky News: “Catherine is a wonderful colleague and I have known her for a long time and I really respect Catherine.

“I differ from him on that. I think he’s got it all wrong.”

Asked if Ms West could get the 80 names needed to trigger a competition, she said: “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

We’re about to hear from a cabinet minister about what is an incredibly tense moment for Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.

Education Minister Bridget Phillipson will speak on various programs this morning and answer questions about the increasing calls for the prime minister’s resignation.

Catherine West, the MP who issued an ultimatum for cabinet members to challenge Sir Keir on Saturday, will also speak this morning.

The former deputy Foreign Secretary said the cabinet must name the “best communicator” to replace the prime minister by Monday or it will seek the 80 names needed to trigger a competition.

The Prime Minister announced plans to respond to the local election disaster and promised to lead Labor into the next general election.

He said he would speak “noisily” about the need for closer ties with Brussels as he seeks to win back undecided MPs and address the shift of voters from Labor to the Greens in many old strongholds in London and cities across England.

Dan Haygarth from The Independent reports:

Election results have revealed significant differences in the performance of parties in the capital compared to the rest of the UK.

According to Press Association analysis, Labor successfully defended a higher percentage of seats than elsewhere; Reform UK won a much lower proportion of the seats it ran for than it did outside London.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party won 67 per cent of the council seats it held in the capital just before the election.

This compares with a 30 per cent win rate for the seats he defended outside London.

Reformation won just 5 percent of the seats in the capital where it nominated, while the rate was 43 percent in the seats it ran for in the rest of England.

Other parties saw contrasting chances inside and outside the capital; The Greens won 19 percent of the seats in London, where they ran; this rate was higher than the 10 per cent in the rest of the UK.

The Conservatives won 46 per cent of the seats they defended outside London, while the party saw a net increase in the number of councilors in the capital by 6 per cent compared to before election day.

Labor MP Catherine West has called on Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet members to challenge him for the leadership and warned that if they don’t step up she will do it herself.

He told The Independent the party needed to “take on reform and put forward a centrist vision of the country that people can really get behind”.

Labor Party rules state that a leadership election will only take place if the prime minister resigns or 20 per cent of the party nominate a candidate to replace him.

This means that 81 MPs must support the opponent. West said he would seek 80 more names to trigger the contest if no one in the cabinet does so.

But as of now, West says there are only 10 lawmakers willing to support him. Still, he said he was “confident” others would come forward if needed.

Chloe combi He’s speaking to young people after Thursday’s election. He writes that he works with this generation every day and struggles to find one young adult who thinks the current political system has even made a meaningful and positive change in their lives.

He says that because of this desperation, the hunger for alternatives has increased. There was an early assumption that Zach Polanski’s Green Party would “Zohran Mamdani” in the 2026 council elections, illustrated by the hysterical portrayal of the leader in some sections of the press as a kind of political bogeyman. But while the Greens have made some significant gains, this generation’s relationship with Farage’s party is equally significant.

The results of this year’s local elections in London have shattered historical records and revealed stark differences in how parties are performing in the capital compared to the rest of the UK.

According to Press Association analysis, Labor successfully defended a higher percentage of seats than elsewhere; Reform UK won a much lower proportion of the seats it ran for than it did outside London.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party won 67% of its council seats in the capital just before the election.

This compares with a 30% win rate for the seats he defended outside London.

Reformation won just 5 percent of the seats in the capital it ran for, compared to 43 percent of the seats it ran for in the rest of England.

Other parties saw contrasting chances inside and outside the capital; The Greens won 19% of the seats in London where they ran; this was higher than the 10% in the rest of the UK.

The Conservatives won 46% of the seats they defended outside London, while the party saw a net increase in the number of councilors in the capital by 6% compared to before polling day.

The results clearly show that people in the capital voted for a wider range of parties than ever before; Almost four in 10 council seats (39.3%) were won by someone other than Labor or the Conservatives.

A Labor MP has called on cabinet leaders to challenge Sir Keir Starmer by Monday – or will – following the party’s disastrous local election results.

Hornsey and Friern Barnet MP Catherine West, who was sacked by Sir Keir as a junior minister at the Foreign Office, said the cabinet should “reorganise themselves” and put forward its “best communicator” to replace the prime minister to avoid a rivalry. If that doesn’t happen, he said he will seek out the 80 names needed to trigger a contest.

To talk IndependentMs West said: “Last week we had appalling election results and our response so far does not match the emergency we face. I fear we will end up with prime minister Farage.”

The outcome of these elections provides further evidence of a country moving away from the traditional two-party system, with strong support for other parties in local elections at least so far. Here are some of the towns and cities highlighting the trend: