Starmer turns to attacking Brexit again as he shares fightback plan to save his job

Keir Starmer has taken aim at Brexit and vowed to lead the party at the next general election, while saying closer ties with Europe will be at the heart of his response to Labour’s dismal performance in local elections.

The beleaguered prime minister is fighting for his political future after Labor this week lost more than 1,200 council seats in England and gave up control of 37 councils.

Reform UK won more than 1,350 seats and took control of 14 councils, including eight previously run by Labour; most of these were based in the party’s headquarters in northern England.

The results extended beyond the north of England, with Labor also losing control of the Welsh Senedd for the first time – falling to just nine out of 96 seats in Cardiff Bay; first minister Eluned Morgan even lost her seat to further humiliation; The SNP once again declared victory in Scotland.

The Prime Minister said in his first major interview since the election: Sunday Mirror He said he would speak “noisily” about the need for closer ties with Brussels and insisted he would lead Labor at the next general election as he explained how he would seek to pursue the 10-year project of “national renewal”.

The Prime Minister said: “I feel Brexit is holding our young people back. They should be free to work, study and travel in European countries, just as I was able to do when I was growing up.

“This has been taken away from young people because of Brexit. I will not let Brexit stand in the way of their opportunities and that’s why we will continue to move forward on this.”

Labor lost control of councils to Nigel Farage’s party in areas such as St Helens and Sunderland, which voted to leave in the 2016 European Union referendum; both have long been seen as party strongholds.

In an apparent attempt to assuage the concerns of voters who feel they have been left behind, Sir Keir promised “an economy that really works for everyone, wherever they live”.

Sunday Mirror No 10 and the Treasury are preparing support for families by targeting rising fuel costs and household bills since the Iran war has pushed up global oil and gas prices, it said.

But Sir Keir faces a fight to keep his job, with former Foreign Secretary Catherine West vowing to make a leadership bid on Monday if Sir Keir is not sacked by the Cabinet.

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.”

Nearly 30 Labor supporters have publicly suggested that Sir Keir should either resign or set a timetable for his departure.

Mr Starmer said he would fight for his job in the face of difficulties. “I will not be leaving the job I was elected to do in July 2024,” he said. “Of course the consequences are hard, really hard, and I’m not sugarcoating it.”

When asked whether he would lead Labor at the next general election, the Prime Minister said: Sunday Mirror: “Yes I will, and I have always said that this is a decade of national renewal in which the legacy we have inherited is not just a broken economy but a legacy of horrors on all fronts.

“Public services were disrupted and, in fact, when we took office, the situation was worse than we thought. It has to be a 10-year renovation project, because if it has to be done right, it has to be done.”

Labour’s election embarrassment extended to London, where the Green Party took control of its third London council by ousting the massive red majority in Lewisham. Zack Polanski’s party also ousted Hackney’s Labor mayor and won the borough council election, as well as taking Waltham Forest from Sir Keir’s party.

In an interview with ObserverThe Prime Minister has downplayed the threat posed by the Greens and Reform in the next general election, despite their victories in Labor districts this week.

He said: “I have a strong belief that there aren’t very many people who really want Zack Polanski or Nigel Farage to be prime minister.

“I think the mainstream majority actually want to know that we, the Government, have progressive answers to the challenges they face on a daily basis, and we need to explain clearly and confidently that we have those progressive answers.”

Sir Keir responded to the election on Saturday by appointing two of Labour’s top leaders; He gave former prime minister Gordon Brown the role of special envoy for global finance and made Baroness Harriet Harman his adviser on women and girls.