MPs from Labour’s left are expected to urge Ed Miliband to consider a leadership bid in the coming days, as Keir Starmer faces the prospect of a definite challenge from his MPs next week. Following grim results for Labour in local elections on Thursday, former minister Catherine West said that if no cabinet ministers go public by Monday, she would launch a bid to end the impasse.
A series of Labour backbenchers called on Saturday for Starmer to set a timetable for his departure from Downing Street. The prime minister has reiterated his determination to stay on, saying on Saturday that a change of leadership would “plunge the country into chaos”.
A number of Labour MPs from across the party support Andy Burnham replacing Starmer. However, the Greater Manchester mayor requires a time-consuming and uncertain byelection to re-enter parliament. There has been speculation that Wes Streeting might be considering a move next week, although the health secretary’s allies have vehemently denied this and point to his public support for the PM on Friday.
With any route for Burnham back to the Commons still unclear, dozens of backbenchers from the party’s left are now preparing to turn to Miliband. The group is expected to urge the energy secretary to step in and prevent a Streeting coronation, believing that Angela Rayner, Starmer’s former deputy, does not have the necessary support.
West, a north London MP who Starmer sacked as a Foreign Office minister last year, told the BBC that in the event of no other challengers, she would ask colleagues on Monday to back her as a way of starting a contest. She said she had the support of 10 MPs so far, well below the required 81 – 20% of the parliamentary party – to endorse any challenger. But her action could prompt others to act.
Labour lost more than 1,400 councillors across England on Thursday, shedding support to Reform UK and the Greens in traditional heartlands. In Wales, the party lost power for the first time, plummeting to just nine Senedd seats behind Plaid Cymru and Reform, while also losing ground in the Scottish parliament. Starmer, who is due to make a speech on Monday about closer European links, began a fightback on Saturday with two new appointments he characterised as “future-looking” – involving the Labour grandees Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman.
