News24 | ‘I have my doubters’: British PM Starmer moves to quell rebellion, Farage’s Reform surges
British Prime Minister and Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks to members of the media following local elections at Kingsdown Methodist Church in London, England.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to prove his doubters wrong after bruising election results.A growing number of Labour lawmakers have turned on Starmer.Anti-immigration Reform UK party surged from fewer than 100 to over 1 400 seats.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to quell a mounting rebellion in his party on Monday by saying he would prove the doubters wrong and stay in power to avoid plunging Britain into a new political crisis.A growing number of Labour lawmakers have turned on Starmer after his party suffered the worst local election results for a governing party in more than three decades last week, prompting a former junior minister to threaten to seek a leadership contest if he fails to offer radical change.Starmer sought to show he had got the message, saying in an impassioned speech that “incremental change won’t cut it” in a country that has suffered two decades of economic stagnation and mounting social tensions.“I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain. Frustrated by politics, and some people frustrated with me,” he said in a speech in London. “I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong. And I will.”READ | PM Starmer ‘not going to walk away’ as Labour takes heavy losses in UK electionStarmer won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history in 2024 with promises to expand the economy, lower illegal immigration, and cut waiting lists in the state-run health service.However, progress has been hampered by policy U-turns, perceptions among some in his party that he is unwilling to take difficult decisions, and a series of political scandals, contributing to some of the lowest approval ratings of any British prime minister.AFP reported that Starmer signalled that he hoped to stay in power until 2034.But several Labour lawmakers made it clear they believed it was time for him to go.Former junior minister Catherine West announced that if a cabinet minister did not challenge Starmer by Monday, she would try to kickstart a leadership contest herself - a move that could open the door to others.Such a move would also likely spark a damaging bout of infighting as MPs from the left and right of the party battled to position their preferred candidate or shore up Starmer.Under party rules, any challenger would need the support of 81 Labour MPs - 20% of the party in parliament - to trigger a contest.Another lawmaker, former loyalist Josh Simons, urged Starmer to step down, saying he had “lost the country”.A third, veteran MP Clive Betts, said there had “to be a way to actually bring in a new leader in a proper and constructive manner in the next few months”.The election results were particularly tough for Labour in Wales, where they lost control of the devolved government for the first time since the parliament in Cardiff was established 27 years ago.Elsewhere, they lost nearly 1 500 local council seats while the anti-immigration Reform UK party surged from fewer than 100 to over 1 400 seats under Brexit figurehead leader Nigel Farage.In Scotland, the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), John Swinney, called for another independence referendum to shield the nation from a future Reform government.
