A Labour MP has issued a passionate defence of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, warning colleagues that removing him from office would not solve the country's problems and could actually make things worse.
MP's Strong Warning
Southport Labour MP Patrick Hurley made a powerful appeal to his party to “stick with Starmer,” arguing that replacing the prime minister would fail to address the nation's deep-seated challenges. In an interview with the BBC, Hurley cautioned that destabilising the government could drive up bond yields, further constraining public spending.
“The fundamentals will not change no matter who the prime minister is,” Hurley said. “We have two globally significant wars raging that impact defence spending, public services, energy security, and climate change. We have levels of economic growth that have not been sufficiently high for over 15 years. None of this is going to change if we change the person at the top of the tree.”
Risks of Instability
Hurley warned fellow Labour MPs touting potential replacements to “be careful what they wish for,” noting that the domestic problems facing the country are more challenging than at any point in the last century. He argued that changing leaders now would only exacerbate financial pressures.
“The markets will look at the stability of the government and its ability to repay borrowing incurred under the previous Conservative government due to Covid and other issues. If we start making changes now, the rates those markets charge us will be even higher, leaving even less room to manoeuvre to improve public services,” he added.
Learning from History
The MP drew a parallel with the previous Conservative administration, which saw a rapid succession of prime ministers—Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak—that he said “did no good for the country.” He urged Labour not to “tear a leaf out of their book.”
“The one challenge we have as a government is to get our economic performance back up to a decent standard to better fund our public services and do all the good Labour things we want to do. And we won’t be able to do that if we continue with the destabilisation we saw under the Conservatives,” Hurley concluded.
