Voters have not only rejected Starmer but the leadership challengers to his Labour crown

IIt’s easy to look at Labour’s disastrous election results across the UK and conclude that this is a wholesale repudiation of Keir Starmer’s premiership.

The problem for the party is that this is also a wholesale rejection of those who claim Sir Keir’s crown.

Top candidates to replace him as Labor leader, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham, were also humiliatingly rejected by voters.

In the north-west of England, where Mr Burnham is mayor of Manchester, voters swayed from Labor to Reform.

Reform has snatched up every Labor seat up for grabs, particularly in Wigan, where one of its chief allies, the culture minister Lisa Nandy, sits.

But the humiliation in the north-west was also bad news for Ms Rayner.

In the Tameside Council area, where the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency sits alongside the Westminster seat of Gorton and Denton, Labor came a dismal third in the by-election in February, with 16 of the 17 available seats going to Reform.

This was not an endorsement of his claims to be Labor leader and prime minister; quite the opposite.

So, while Britain rejects Starmerism, it is busy saying “none of the above” for the Labor Party leader’s alternatives.

Wes Streeting, the health minister in Redbridge, London, is hopeful the party can hold on to the council where the Ilford North seat is located.

But even when Labor was at its peak in the 2024 general election, it could only withstand the challenge of pro-Gaza Independents by a few hundred votes.

However, beyond reassuring defeated councilors in their constituencies, the only question that will haunt Labor MPs is how and when to replace the leader and prime minister.

It is now clear that the unpopularity of this prime minister, whose reputation and authority have been shattered by issues such as the Peter Mandelson scandal and the welfare rebellion, has dragged his party further into the mire.

Few Labor MPs privately agree with deputy prime minister David Lammy’s analysis that “now is the wrong time to change the pilot”.

But the question is who can replace him? It was this question that had previously prevented Labor MPs from taking action against Sir Keir. These elections muddy the waters even further.

But all we know is that even if he sets a timetable for his departure, as energy secretary Ed Miliband has suggested, Sir Keir is unlikely to be replaced by Mr Burnham, who will struggle to find a winnable seat to return him to Westminster.

But the consequences go far beyond leaving questions about Starmer alone. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s personal ratings have been very good lately, but his party is also being decimated in its traditional heartlands.

Regaining Westminster City Council would be a small boost, but the Conservatives are rallying in Essex and the rest of East Anglia. Although he does not face an immediate leadership challenge, these results will also raise questions about his future.

But the real winner is of course Nigel Farage.

Voters across the UK gave Mr Farage a huge boost, while experts suggested Reform peaked last year, while Reform was in decline in opinion polls.

His hopes of becoming prime minister in 2029 have been reignited in the most spectacular way.

This perhaps means that the question posed by former Labor shadow chancellor John McDonnell will be the one most troubling MPs in his party.

How will they stop reform from winning the next general election? Starmer is not the man to do this, but it seems no one else is either.