Labour MPs are continuing to come out calling for Keir Starmer to set a timetable for his resignation.
These are from Paulette Hamilton.
double quotation mark The local elections were devastating. We lost outstanding councillors and candidates.
On the doorstep, voters repeatedly told us the same thing, national issues. the party leadership meant they could no longer vote Labour.
We now need an orderly transition to new leadership.
double quotation mark The public have made it clear. they do not wish to hear further talk of a “reset” from Sir Keir Starmer.
Confidence is lost. Voters have stopped listening.
Now, an orderly transition must follow, and change must come from the top.
These are from Markus Campbell-Savours.
double quotation mark 1/4 I have listened carefully to the Prime Minister’s speech. Sir Keir Starmer is a decent, principled and kind man. But his leadership is not working, and it is with genuine regret that I say so.
double quotation mark 2/4 His position is now untenable. Colleagues should have the courage to say publicly what many have said privately for months.
double quotation mark 3/4 Loyalty matters. Loyalty to him, to the Party and to each other. But today loyalty lies with our elected members across the country. with the 1,500 who lost their seats last week. It does not lie in maintaining a course that is not commanding confidence.
double quotation mark 4/4. What the Party needs now is leadership with a credible vision for the country, a clear sense of direction, purpose. ambition. Those skills exist within our ranks, and I am confident we can find a leader who has them.
And this is from Emma Lewell.
Yassin El-Moudden is a Guardian reporter.
The Communication Workers Union has voted against a motion calling for disaffiliation from the Labour party, with the general secretary, Dave Ward, referring to the party’s recent defeats in local. devolved parliamentary elections as “probably the best opportunity we’re ever gonna have” to initiate a debate about “getting the working-class back at the forefront of everything Labour stands for”. Neil Singh, a delegate from the Midland No 1 branch who brought forward a motion condemning “serious political. economic failings”, said that he was a former Labour party member who has since joined the Greens and pointed out that Labour in government had declined to introduce measures such as bringing Royal Mail back into public ownership. Delegates defending the CWU’s link with Labour argued against “walking away” from power. highlighted that the union “must stay and support those in the party calling for a change in direction”. There are currently 11 Labour-affiliated trade unions, some of which have been reevaluating their relationship with the party. The Fire Brigades Union disaffiliated from Labour in 2004. before returning to the fold in 2015 following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader of the party.
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, is on Radio 4’s PM programme.
Asked about the number of Labour MPs calling publicly for Keir Starmer’s resignation. Reed said that, if 40-plus MPs have called for Starmer to go, that meant 90% of Labour MPs were not saying that, he argued. That wasn’t a “silent majority”; that was a “silent landslide”.
Labour MPs are continuing to come out and call for Keir Starmer’s resignation.
This is from Fred Thomas, MP for Plymouth View Moor.
This is from Sarah Smith, MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden.
And this is from Jas Athwal, MP for Ilford South.
double quotation mark Sir Keir Starmer transformed the Labour Party into a serious, electable force, and I voted for him. As Prime Minister, he has made real contributions, and I am grateful for them.
However, the country must come first. Millions of working people desperately need a focused Labour government delivering a brighter future. Yet we cannot govern effectively when we are constantly distracted by speculation, mistakes and a loss of trust.
Even in places like Redbridge. where we held up better in the locals, the message from voters was clear: the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the country.
Today’s speech failed to show he can regain that trust or lead us through the huge challenges we face at home. abroad.
It is therefore with deep regret that I conclude it is in the national interest for Sir Keir Starmer to step down as Prime Minister. Leader of the Labour Party. This must happen in a smooth, dignified. orderly way so the Party can choose new leadership and get back to the work people elected us to do.
There are various lists doing the rounds of all the MPs have called for Keir Starmer to resign. The BBC says it has at least 45 names on its list, Sky News says 48,. the Guido Fawkes website has the 57 names on its spreadsheet, including nine MPs who have spoken out since the PM delivered his speech.
The organisation Blue Labour has put out a statement saying Keir Starmer should resign. There is a group of Blue Labour MPs in parliament, but this statement is not signed by any of them. there is speculation it has been released by activists in the group, not parliamentarians.
Two reader ask (a version of the same question):
double quotation mark What occurs to me reading much of what is being said by Labour household names is. it does seem to be taken for granted that Burnham would definitely *win* a by election. It’s not a given surely?
double quotation mark We live in interesting times - apparently. a majority in the Labour Party believe the solution to the current fiasco is Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester, the plan being that a Labour MP in a safe seat needs to resign.
However, unfortunately, any by-election in England would be won by Reform or the Greens or the LibDems!!
Until recently it was taken as a given that Andy Burnham would win a byelection in a Labour seat in the Greater Manchester area. or elsewhere in the north-west. Two years ago, in his third campaign to be mayor of Greater Manchester, he won by a landslide. There is probably no other mayor in Britain who has consistently been so popular.
But – the results for Labour in Greater Manchester were dreadful last week. For Manchester city council, only a third of seats were up for election,. so in headline terms the result was no change, Labour hold. But Labour lost every seat it was contesting.
It was almost as bad across the region as a whole. In a terrific article on this for the Mill, Lucy McLaughlin and Joshi Herrmann say:
double quotation mark The scale of the beating handed to Labour in these local elections is difficult to convey just in words. You need to see numbers. maps, showing seas of red replaced by turquoise and green and yellow; you perhaps need to see the tears and feel the desolation longtime servants of the party are feeling this evening. That this defeat has been suffered in the heartland of the modern Labour party — the stronghold atop which names like Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner, Lisa Nandy. Lucy Powell have built their reputations — is all the more harrowing.
Yes, we knew Reform would pick up seats in the outer boroughs,. did we think they would win 24 of the 25 on offer in Wigan? 18 of the 19 up for grabs in Tameside? 13 of 21 in Salford and 13 of 20 in Oldham? The scale of the Labour wipeout in places they have dominated for decades is something to behold. with 108 Labour councillors in Greater Manchester losing their seats. The only saving grace for Labour was that only a third of seats were up for election this year. Had these elections been ‘all outs’, the destruction would have been catastrophic.
This, understandably, has led a lot of commentators,. Labour MPs, to conclude that with anti-Labour sentiment running so high, even Burnham would not win a byelection.
Is that assessment correct? Ultimately, it would probably depend on how Burnham chose to campaign. Labour lost seats across the Greater Manchester region because people were fed up with the government. If Burnham were to stand on a ‘Vote for me. I’ll support Keir Starmer as he carries as he governing as he has done for the past two years’, even his personal popularity might not carry him over the line.
But Burnham wouldn’t run a campaign like that; inevitably. he would end up standing on a platform that he should be sent to Westminster to shake things up. On that basis, he could win – probably quite easy.
It would mean, though, running on a government ticket but as an anti-government candidate. You can see why a Starmer-led NEC might be reluctant to approve that.
Here is the Downing Street news release on the announcement in Keir Starmer’s speech this morning on legislation to nationalise British Steel. No 10 says.
double quotation mark British Steel could be back in government hands for the first time since being sold off in 1988. thanks to powers that will be included in new legislation to be set out in the Kings Speech on Wednesday.
The new powers would be subject to public interest tests,. if used to nationalise British Steel, they would boost national security while giving stability to workers at Scunthorpe, and British Steel’s suppliers and customers.
Here is some more reaction to Keir Starmer’s speech this morning from rival parties.
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, said:
double quotation mark Keir Starmer showed today that he still doesn’t understand why voters overwhelmingly rejected Labour on Thursday. People want real change. are fed up to the back teeth with a status quo that has failed the vast majority.
The Greens’ message about ending the affordability crisis by bringing down bills, building council housing. introducing rent controls resonated with a public that has given up on the failing Labour government.
And Keith Brown, the SNP’s depute (deputy) leader, said:
double quotation mark This is yet another Westminster government consumed by chaos. is now the permanent pattern on that place. Broken, Brexit Britain is in terminal decline lurching from scandal to scandal. the question is no longer will Keir Starmer go? The question is when will Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland go.
Lorraine Beavers, the Labour MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, has joined those calling for Keir Starmer to quit. She says, if he stays, Labour will do even worse in next year’s local elections.
She says that his speech this morning was passionate –. that the content did not promise “anything close to the scale of change needed to rebuild communities like mine”.
She also says there should be an election –. that Labour should not just replace Starmer with another cabinet minister by consensus.
double quotation mark I’ve spent the weekend listening to my constituents, local party members and local councillors. They are as fed up as I am. Without a massive change in approach. when elections are held in my corner of Lancashire next year, voters will send the same message with even greater force. I wanted to give the prime minister the chance to set out that change this morning. It was a passionate speech – passion I wish I’d heard more often from the prime minister over the last two years. But the content of the speech did not suggest anything close to the scale of change needed to rebuild communities like mine. I believe that the prime minister should announce a timetable for leaving office. We must have a new leader in place well in advance of next year’s local elections. For our party to rediscover its connection with working-class communities like mine. we need a democratic contest involving the most talented leaders from across our movement. A cabinet appointment, without consulting the wider party and labour movement, would risk repeating the same mistakes already made.
double quotation mark Andrew, the results page indicates 135 out of 136 councils in England have declared. I may have missed it, but what is the outstanding council, and when may we expect its declaration? Thanks from an American reader.
The full results from Birmingham aren’t in yet because one seat still has not been declared due to a recount.
From my colleague Jessica Elgot
double quotation mark Thoughts from a Labour MP:
“We have to face up to the fact every single one of them is fucking useless. Andy’s strategy has been a disaster. Angela bottled it. Ed clearly a hiding to nothing. Wes AWOL. God knows what Catherine West is doing. Not quite sure how we ended up here.”
Alan Gemmell, the Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, has also called for Keir Starmer to resign, Pippa Crerar reports. Pippa says:
double quotation mark Another Labour MP - Alan Gemmell - calls for Keir Starmer to go following his speech. Also a Wes Streeting supporter. Coincidence?
“Our country faces enormous challenges and we need a Labour government that can deliver the scale of change this requires. The message from last week’s elections is clear: the Prime Minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change.
“I listened to the PM today. Sadly I don’t believe he can lead us to into,. win, the next election therefore he must now set a date for his departure.”
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