Sir Keir Starmer is fighting for his political life this weekend, with over 90 Labour MPs now publicly calling for his resignation after the party’s worst local election performance in more than a decade. The Prime Minister, who insists he will lead Labour into the next general election due in 2029, faces the most serious internal revolt of his premiership.
The trigger was the local elections of 7 May, in which Labour lost roughly 1,500 council seats while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK gained 1,454, taking control of Essex County Council, Havering — its first London local authority — and the northern city of Sunderland. The Conservative Party suffered alongside Labour, shedding more than 500 seats.
“This may be the Labour Party’s last chance”
The most damaging intervention came from Angela Rayner, Starmer’s former deputy, who broke ranks on social media. “What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change,” she wrote. “This may be the Labour Party’s last chance.” The post was widely read inside Westminster as a positioning move ahead of a possible leadership contest.
Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, was more direct: “The Prime Minister needs to go. That is not negotiable.” Dozens of backbench colleagues have followed, though none of the senior figures positioning themselves as alternatives has yet formally triggered the 81 nominations required for a contest.
The contenders gather
Three names dominate the speculation. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, long viewed as the moderate future of Labour, has been damaged by his friendship with Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador to Washington dismissed over ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, would need to win a parliamentary seat first — a constitutional hurdle that has not stopped speculation. Angela Rayner herself is the third visible candidate.
Starmer pushed back hard in a make-or-break speech at Downing Street on Monday. “To meet the challenges that our country faces, incremental change won’t cut it,” he told the audience, acknowledging that “some people are frustrated with me” and that he has “doubters.” He framed his government as a “10-year project of renewal.”
Markets watch the gilt yield
Financial markets have rendered their own verdict. The yield on the 10-year UK government bond pushed above 5% in the days following the local results, reflecting investor anxiety that a more left-leaning successor could loosen fiscal discipline. The FTSE 100 fell 2% on Friday’s close to 10,165 points, with mining and banking stocks leading the slide.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been one of the most visible defenders of the Starmer line. Speaking after Thursday’s GDP figures — Q1 growth of 0.6%, in line with expectations — she said the data showed the government “has the right economic plan.” Her own future is widely seen as tied to Starmer’s.
The political calculation now turns on whether any challenger can muster the 81 nominations before parliament rises for the summer recess. None has yet broken cover. But with Reform UK polling at unprecedented levels and Starmer’s personal approval at record lows, the question in Westminster is no longer whether the Prime Minister can recover — but whether his party will give him the chance to try.
