UK politics live: Starmer has lost the country and should resign as PM, says former Labour ally

Catherine West says women in the Labor Party should stand up to Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms West told the BBC program with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday: “I say to women in the Parliamentary Labor Party, don’t let the men stand.

“I think we need to modernise. I think we look very dated and I think we need to energize our communications and I think we need to repair our relationship with the Civil Service.”

The deputy leader of Reform UK Scotland accused other parties at Holyrood of taking “political posturing” by not attending talks with the party.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, First Minister John Swinney said he would not invite Reform England to talks at Scottish Government headquarters at St Andrew’s.

Mairi McAllan, the previous housing minister and newly elected SNP MSP for Clydesdale, doubled down on Mr Swinney’s comments while speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show.

He said: “I think there are some Reform voters who are voting Reform because they are either angry or intimidated this time.

“We will talk to them directly and work to improve their lives so they don’t have to feel that way anymore.

“But we won’t mess with people like Malcolm Offord and his deputies in Parliament.”

Reform UK won its first seat in the Scottish Parliament after the Holyrood elections, placing second with Labor.

Scottish Labor Party leader Anas Sarwar said “no” when asked whether he would invite Reform to talks if Labor wins the election.

Thomas Kerr, deputy leader of Reform UK Scotland, said the comments were “political posturing and ‘anti-democratic'”.

He said: “We have not set foot in parliament yet. These are politicians who are making political stances before we set foot in the halls of Holyrood Parliament.”

David Maddox, political editor of The Independent, reports:

Two senior MPs from Labour’s left-wing Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) said they were unhappy with Catherine West’s bid to remove Keir Starmer from the leadership.

The SCG has previously made clear it wants Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to return to Westminster to replace Sir Keir.

But SCG chairman Richard Burgon, a leading critic of Sir Keir, said in a statement that Ms West wanted a “palace coup”, which he could not support.

He said: “I understand Catherine West’s deep frustrations, which are shared by many MPs and Labor members who think we cannot continue like this and that Keir must go, as I have called for.

“But I cannot support the proposals she announced on television this morning. Catherine’s stated preference is for a cabinet reshuffle, a kind of palace coup.

“This means the future of the party will be decided by those who sit back and allow terrible decisions like winter fuel and disability cuts to be made. This will not be seen by the public as a decisive break.”

He called on Sir Keir to set a date for his departure and then launch a “full and proper democratic process” involving not just the cabinet but all MPs, unions and party members.

Previously, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell had also called for a democratic process. He said: “Catherine West reflects the sadness in her constituency where so many seats have been lost, but I don’t think this is the right approach. We need to discuss how to move forward and I worry that some in the shadows may take advantage of her concerns and turn us back without a proper democratic process.”

Richard Tice refused to say whether Nigel Farage had received any other large undisclosed donations on Sunday morning.

The reform leader was referred to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner by the Conservatives after it was revealed he received a previously undisclosed £5 million gift from a Thailand-based crypto billionaire in 2024.

Asked on Sunday if there were any other undisclosed gifts, Mr Tice told the BBC: “I deal with my finances, Nigel deals with his finances.”

Labor leader Anna Turley MP said the response showed “Farage and his MPs clearly believe there is one rule for them and another for everyone else”.

He said: “Reform has consistently tried to evade scrutiny. Deputy leader Richard Tice still refuses to answer over his own tax scandal. Reformation disregards public trust in politics.”

Richard Tice dismissed questions about a £5 million donation to Nigel Farage as “smear”.

The reform leader was referred to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner by the Conservatives after it was revealed he received a previously undisclosed gift from a Thailand-based crypto billionaire in 2024.

But when asked about the donation on Sunday, the party’s deputy leader described the matter as “smear”.

“You continue to denigrate, belittle and slander us. We are tired of this, and so are the voters.

“They literally put out a massive, massive rebuttal to the establishment media and said we want more Reform, we want more Reform-led councils doing great things.”

Kate Devlin, The Independent’s Whitehall editor, reports:

Catherine West’s allies say she has received “numerous expressions of interest” from MPs since she put forward her leadership challenge.

If no other hopeful Labor leadership comes forward by tomorrow, he will seek the 80 names needed to become a candidate. So far, it appears that no leading challenger has indicated that he plans to remain a candidate, meaning Monday’s deadline is still open.

One ally said: “He’s had a lot of expressions of interest since he made the announcement.” They added that they expected these to harden when “it becomes official” on Monday.

MP Catherine West said she would officially start collecting names on Monday after waiting for Sir Keir Starmer to speak.

Mrs. West told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I’ll listen to what the Prime Minister has to say tomorrow, and if I’m still not satisfied, I’ll email the Parliamentary Labor Party and ask for names. And I’m not doing this for myself. It’s for working people, because Labor is the only party that can beat Reform.”

Asked whether he believed he would get the numbers behind him, he added: “We’ll know when I send my email to Parliamentary Labor, but what we need is the timetable from the party leader and he and I are very good friends, he knows, I’ve asked him to ensure an orderly transition to a leadership election, which will allow us to communicate the situation to both the country and our colleagues so we can move forward.”

John McDonnell has warned that Catherine West’s urgency to sack Sir Keir Starmer could put the “proper democratic process” at risk.

Labour’s former shadow chancellor and current MP for Hayes & Harlington said he did not think Ms West’s approach was the right one.

He wrote of

“We need to discuss how to move forward, and I worry that some in the shadows are taking advantage of his concerns and trying to turn us away without having a proper democratic process.”

Mr McDonnell criticized Sir Keir’s leadership and said yesterday that he “must put party and country first when deciding whether to risk opening the door to Farage”.

A former minister and Starmer ally has become the latest Labor MP to call on the prime minister to resign.

Josh Simons, who was a Cabinet Minister until a few weeks ago, declared he had “lost the country” as he called on Sir Keir to set a timetable for his departure from Number 10.

“This is bigger than any one person. We all must be honest about these challenges, including those vying to replace the prime minister. We need radicalism, energy and tremendous courage,” he wrote. Sunday Times.

“I do not believe the prime minister can rise to this moment, putting the people I represent and the country I love first. He has lost the country. He must take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”

Mr Simons was forced to resign in March amid an investigation into allegations he paid the Labor Party think tank he once ran for an investigation into “smearing” journalists.