Starmer to kick off make-or-break local election campaign with vow to ‘fight for our values’

Sir Keir Starmer will vow to “fight for our values” as he launches Labor’s local election campaign on Monday, amid fears that a looming election wipeout could threaten the future of his premiership.

Labor is bracing for heavy losses at the polls this spring as it continues to lose voters to both the Reform on the right and the Greens on the left in a coup that could mean the end of Sir Keir’s leadership.

Labor faces a “very significant threat” as it continues to falter in the polls ahead of a crucial election test, pollsters have warned.

But in a bid to fend off opposition and rally his supporters, Sir Keir will launch the campaign for the May 7 election by calling for unity and urging the country to “stand together”.

“It’s about pride and hope,” he will tell at the launch event in the West Midlands on Monday.

“This is the political choice in this election. Our opponents are responding to this war by dividing our societies on two fronts.

“We meet this challenge by unleashing the pride of our communities.”

He added: “We will fight to win every vote. We will fight for our values. And we will fight for the country we built together, a Britain built for everyone.”

“Because in the context of everything that’s going on in the world, these values ​​that we stand for, justice, have never been more important.”

Voters will go to the polls on May 7 to elect more than 5,000 councilors and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

This test poses a critical threat to Sir Keir’s premiership; Others warn that a heavy defeat could raise new questions about the future of his leadership.

Pollster Lord Robert Hayward has warned Labor faces a “very significant” threat after what he described as a series of “absolutely appalling” council by-election results.

This comes months after Labor faced a brutal defeat in the Gorton and Denton parliamentary byelections; this defeat placed them in third place behind both the victorious Green Party and Reform.

Zack Polanski insisted the win showed his party “can win anywhere” and predicted a Green wave in the May election, threatening to further destroy Sir Keir’s already struggling votes on the left of the political spectrum.

Heavy losses are expected across the country, including in Welsh Labour’s heartlands, where a recent poll suggested Labor could face being kicked out of government for the first time since devolution began in a devastating coup in 1999.

The MRP poll for YouGov suggested that Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru would be the largest party with 43 seats, followed by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in second place with 30 seats.

The dismal vote comes as clamor over the leadership continues to grow, both from within the cabinet and from Sir Keir’s former aide Angela Rayner, with rivals expected to strike after May’s election.

But Sir Keir hopes a raft of measures aimed at helping the cost of living, including lowering the energy cap and increasing the minimum wage, will translate into votes.

“We welcome this moment with hope,” he is expected to tell an audience that includes his Cabinet colleagues and vice president Lucy Powell.

“It is the hope of an NHS where waiting lists are reduced, and it is happening. It is the hope of a country where working people’s wages are rising, and it is happening.

“And the hope of a country where poverty is reduced and our children have a better future, it is.

“This is what we’re building. This is what we’re fighting for.”

His speech came after both Conservative and Reform UK leaders launched their own local election campaigns; Nigel Farage framed the vote as “a referendum on Keir Starmer”.

Addressing members in Sunderland, the Clacton MP said the May 7 election was “a referendum on our entire political class”.

Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch said the Conservative Party was ‘fighting to win everywhere’ in local elections and insisted they would ‘come back’ at the polls.

Saying the Conservatives had “learned their lesson”, he told a rally in London: “We have acknowledged and apologized for the mistakes made on tax and immigration, but we cannot leave our councils and our country in the hands of third-rate people who don’t know what they are doing.”

“We are better. We will continue to be better, but we need the public’s trust to show that we will do everything right this time.”