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. The former minister Catherine West said that if no cabinet ministers went 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 by-election to re-enter parliament. 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, hoping to prevent a coronation of Wes Streeting.
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. Brown has been made Starmer's envoy on global finance, while Harman will be the prime minister's adviser on women and girls.
Other Labour MPs have called on Starmer to set a date to hand over the leadership, including Clive Betts and Debbie Abrahams. Abrahams said: "We have to recognise the dangers that we're in now, that on this trajectory it does not look good." Tony Vaughan said there "must be an orderly transition of leadership well before the local elections next year".
