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 support Andy Burnham replacing Starmer, but the Greater Manchester mayor requires a time-consuming and uncertain byelection 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. The group is expected to urge the energy secretary to step in and prevent a Wes Streeting coronation, believing that Angela Rayner does not have the necessary support. West 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, though she has the support of only 10 MPs so far, well below the required 81.
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 involving Labour grandees Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman.
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 doesn’t look good.” Tony Vaughan, the Labour MP for Folkestone, said there “must be an orderly transition of leadership well before the local elections next year”. Another 2024-intake MP, Terry Jermy, released a statement saying Starmer “needs to consider whether he is the right person to lead us into the next election”.
