Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on as prime minister despite early local election results showing his party suffering heavy losses, many at the hands of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. The prime minister struck a defiant note on Friday morning in the face of calls from some of his MPs for him to quit, insisting he remained as determined as ever to deliver on the promises on which he was elected less than two years ago.
With Labour having lost control of councils in its heartlands across northern England and the Midlands, Starmer admitted the results were looking bad for his party. “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it,” he said. “We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country. These are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party. And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.”
But he added: “I accept that [the results] reflect voters don’t feel that their lives have changed enough or quickly enough, and that’s been going on for a long time. We were elected to deal with that, and I’m not going to walk away from that responsibility and plunge the country into chaos.”
By Friday morning, Labour had lost about half the council seats it was contesting, losing control of councils in Hartlepool, Tameside, Redditch and Tamworth. Some of the biggest losses came in the “red wall” former industrial seats. However, the party was proving more resilient in London, retaining control in Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham, but losing Wandsworth and Westminster.
The results sparked calls for Starmer’s resignation from Labour MPs including John McDonnell and Jonathan Brash. Brash told the Guardian: “I think the very best thing the prime minister could do now is address the nation tomorrow and set out a timetable for his departure.” McDonnell said: “The leadership question has inevitably to be on the agenda.” However, David Lammy and John Healey backed Starmer, with Healey saying: “I think he can still deliver, he can still turn it round.”
Reform UK leaders were jubilant, having won 327 seats and taken control of their first London council in Havering. Farage said: “It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way.” The Conservatives also faced heavy losses, confirming the splintering of the British electorate.
