Britain’s Starmer fights for his job as calls for his ouster grow after local election losses
Starmer plans to give a speech on Monday to argue that he can turn the tide and revive his government’s fortunes. But his position remains fragile as rivals weigh their options. MP Catherine West said she would try to launch a leadership race if she didn’t like what she heard in the speech.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, often seen as a potential rival, said the party “needs to change” but did not publicly call for Starmer to leave.
“The Prime Minister now needs to seize the moment and bring about the change our country needs,” he said.
Starmer is trying to gain momentum after his centre-left party suffered heavy losses in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. Last week’s election was widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he came to power in a landslide less than two years ago.
His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair outdated public services and ease living costs, and has been hobbled by repeated missteps and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform. He was further hurt by Jeffrey Epstein’s disastrous decision to appoint his scandal-tainted friend Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
In last week’s election, Labor was squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both the anti-immigration Reform England and the “eco-populist” Green Party. This reflects the growing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labor and the Conservatives. Starmer nevertheless told The Observer newspaper on Sunday that he wanted to remain in office for a decade. He pinned his hopes on Monday’s speech and King George III’s comments. He attributes this to ambitious legislative plans to be laid out in Charles’s speech at the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.
One key policy is closer ties with the European Union, from which the UK left in 2020, four years after the “leave” side narrowly won a membership referendum. Starmer’s government has already moved to ease some trade restrictions that have burdened British businesses since Brexit, and he has said he would secure a youth mobility deal so young people can spend several years working on the continent.
“Brexit has left our young people behind,” Starmer told The Observer, adding that “we need to be closer to Europe.”
Labor campaigned to remain in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign but has been reluctant to reopen a debate that has bitterly divided the country. Starmer ruled out re-entering the EU or rejoining the EU customs union or single market, two things that would make a big difference to UK businesses.
Starmer’s future at stake None of the high-profile Labor politicians, including Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, saw Starmer as a potential rival and have called for Starmer to resign.
But a growing number of Labor MPs have called on the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure. British politics allows parties to change mid-term leaders without the need for a new election.
Josh Simons, a formerly staunch Labor MP, wrote in the Times of London that Starmer had “lost the country” and “must take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”
West, a former minister, is trying to speed up the process by promising to try to trigger a leadership contest unless Starmer delivers a barnstorming speech on Monday. West acknowledged that he did not have the support of the 81 colleagues needed to force a contest and his move appeared to be an attempt to force higher-profile contestants to make the move.
“Working people sent us a message,” West said. “We need to listen, we need to change, and we need to do it quickly.”
