Sir Keir Starmer is under renewed pressure to quit Number 10 as some of his most senior Cabinet Ministers have refused to publicly back him.
The Prime Minister is facing a rebellion from a number of Labour MPs in the wake of disastrous local election results which saw the party lose more than 1,400 council seats.
A coordinated effort was underway last night to get Sir Keir’s Cabinet to issue supportive messages for him, but four Labour big beasts declined to say they had his back.
Former leader Ed Miliband, who reportedly told the Prime Minister to set out a departure for his resignation, issued what has been described as a ‘non-endorsement’.
The Energy Secretary branded the Labour wipe-out ‘devastating’, saying: ‘Voters are making clear their anger at a broken economic and political status quo.’
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Mr Miliband also demanded the government ‘must go further in delivering the mandate for change that Labour won in 2024 – and show how we will answer the call for change in our country’.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the results – which included Labour being beaten in her home city of Birmingham – were ‘a verdict on us not them.’
Without saying she supported the Sir Keir, she added: ‘The PM has rightly said we must do better. It is a privilege to serve the British people and we must live up to it.’
Cabinet Member Lisa Nandy also declined to row in behind the PM, only saying ‘we must rise to meet this moment’.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called for ‘serious, calm-headed reflection, because following these results’, adding: ‘We must listen and respond, but do so in a steady, thoughtful and reflective way.’
Labour lost hundreds of English council seats to Reform UK on Thursday and saw the collapse of stronghold councils including Tameside, Blackburn, Gateshead and Sunderland.
The party was almost wiped out in Wales, where they lost control of the Senedd for the first time and leader Baroness Morgan lost her seat.
The verdict from voters has led to a fever pitch of speculation about whether a challenge will come to Sir Keir’s position as Labour leader.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who reportedly already has enough MPs lined up to launch a coup, issued a coded leadership pitch this morning, saying Labour had ‘bucked the trend’ in his area of Redbridge.
Allies of Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, have led calls for Sir Keir to leave Downing Street.
Louise Haigh, his former transport secretary, said Sir Keir could not lead the party into the next election unless he delivered ‘significant and urgent change’.
Despite this her boss remained defaint, saying he is ‘not going to walk away’.
He vowed: ‘Days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised.’
Who has called on Sir Keir Starmer to resign?
A chorus of backbench MPs have demanded the Prime Minsiter set out a timetable for his departure from Number 10.
Many of these came from left wing factions of the party who were allies of former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Ian Lavery, a former party chairman, said Labour faced ‘utter annihilation’ and warned that Sir Keir would face a leadership coup if he did not agree to stand aside.
Richard Burgon, a central figure within the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) said the ‘defeat has Keir Starmer’s name written all over it.’
He added: ‘The party should now work towards a timetable for an orderly transition to a new leader by the end of this year.’
However other senior Labour MPs have also aimed their fire at the PM.
Clive Betts, one of party’s longest serving MPs, said this morning that ‘people have made their mind up’ about Sir Keir and hoped that he recognises leaving Number 10 would be ‘for the good of the country’.
Calls for his resignation have also come from workers Unions closely aligned with the Labour party.
Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, Britain’s largest union and one of Labour’s biggest financial backers, warned that the party faced ‘oblivion’ unless Sir Keir stepped down.
She called for a change to ‘not just the leader but the entire approach’.
Sharon Graham, the boss of Unite the Union, said Sir Keir faced a choice to ‘change or die’.
She fears the local election drubbing ‘could be the beginning of the end for the party itself’.
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