Labour MP Catherine West has announced she will seek to trigger a leadership contest if no cabinet minister challenges Prime Minister Keir Starmer by Monday. West, a former junior Foreign Office minister, told the BBC's PM programme that she would gather signatures from parliamentary colleagues to force a vote if no senior figure steps forward.
“I’m putting people on notice – if I don’t hear by Monday morning of some leadership hopefuls, I will be asking everybody in the Parliamentary Labour Party to put a name against my name,” West said. She expressed a preference for a cabinet reshuffle that would see Starmer moved to an international role, allowing “others to come to the fore”.
The ultimatum follows catastrophic local election results for Labour, with the party losing control of multiple councils across England. In West Yorkshire, Mayor Tracy Brabin described the losses as “catastrophic” and warned the government faces “oblivion” at the next general election without renewed boldness. Labour lost overall control in Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Calderdale and Kirklees, many of which had been Labour strongholds for decades.
In London, the Greens toppled a huge Labour majority in Lewisham, winning 30 of the first 39 seats declared. Labour also lost control of Lambeth council for the first time since 2006, with the Greens becoming the largest party. The Conservatives held Westminster, while several other boroughs fell into no overall control.
Meanwhile, Welsh Labour announced Ken Skates as interim leader after Eluned Morgan resigned following her loss of a Senedd seat. The party said a timetable for a full leadership election would be set in due course.
