Starmer’s post-election promises fail to quiet Labour rebels

MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer used a make-or-break speech Monday to promise closer ties to Europe, the nationalization of British Steel and more help for struggling young people after his Labour Party suffered some of the worst election defeats in the its history.

But within hours of the 30-minute address, more Labour lawmakers publicly questioned whether he should remain in office.

“Some people are frustrated with me,” Starmer said, acknowledging growing anger among Labour lawmakers after heavy local and national election losses last week. “I know I need to prove them wrong and I will.”

Starmer said the results were “tough, very tough,” and accepted responsibility for Labour’s setbacks.

“We are not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents,” he said, adding the country risks going “down a very dark path” if mainstream politics fails to deliver.

Disgruntled with no clear challenger

The speech amounted to an attempt to steady his leadership as dozens of Labour members of Parliament weigh efforts to force him out.

Under Labour Party rules, 81 lawmakers would need to back a challenge to trigger a formal leadership contest, a threshold difficult to reach.

The absence of an obvious successor has also slowed open rebellion.

Still, pressure inside the party continued to build Monday.

About 40 Labour lawmakers have now urged Starmer either to resign immediately or set out a timetable for stepping down.

Among them is Catherine West, a former minister, who said over the weekend she would challenge Starmer herself if no Cabinet minister stepped forward.

After Monday’s speech, West said she remained unconvinced, calling it “too little too late.”

She said the results last Thursday “show that the prime minister has failed to inspire hope,” calling for “an orderly transition” and saying she had begun gathering support among Labour lawmakers for a leadership election in September.

Several lawmakers have echoed calls for a managed succession rather than an immediate resignation.

Paulette Hamilton, a Labour lawmaker from Birmingham, said voters had repeatedly blamed national leadership on the campaign trail.

“The public have made it clear that they do not wish to hear further talk of a reset from Sir Keir Starmer,” Hamilton said. “Confidence is lost. Voters have stopped listening.”

Markus Campbell-Savours, a Labour lawmaker from Cumbria, called Starmer “a decent, principled and kind man” but said “his leadership is not working” and argued the prime minister’s position had become “untenable.”

Starmer vows to fight on

Starmer rejected calls to begin planning his departure.

“I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including my own party,” he said when pressed about demands for a leadership timetable. “I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party … and I proved them wrong.”

The prime minister announced the nationalization of British Steel, one of the leading steel manufacturers in Europe, and support for youth employment.

Starmer said legislation would be introduced this week to allow the government to take “full ownership” of British Steel — subject to a public interest test.

Over the weekend, Starmer also brought two senior Labour figures into his administration.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown will advise on global finance and economic resilience, while Harriet Harman, a longtime Labour lawmaker, will oversee work tackling violence against women and girls.

‘Heart of Europe '

He also signaled a sharper turn toward Europe, a politically risky move in parts of Labour’s working-class base that backed Brexit.

Starmer attacked Nigel Farage, one of Brexit’s leading advocates and now head of the anti-immigration Reform UK party that gained more than 1,000 local council seats in the elections, saying promises made during the referendum campaign had failed.

“He took Britain for a ride,” Starmer said of Farage. “He is not just a grifter, he is a chancer,” using a term for a scheming opportunist.

The prime minister said a planned U.K.-EU summit later this year would mark a new direction for Britain.

“The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe,” Starmer said. “This Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe.”

He said a proposed youth mobility program with the EU would allow younger Britons to work, study and live in European countries.

When asked why he was promising closer European ties to working-class communities that supported Brexit, Starmer argued voters had been misled.

“The reason I reminded everyone what Nigel Farage said is because that was the promise he put to the country,” Starmer said. “We’d be stronger, we’d be richer, we’d have lots of money for the NHS, immigration would come down, and it all proved to be false.”

A study by the independent National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that by 2025 Brexit had reduced Britain’s gross domestic product by between 6% and 8%, cut investment by 12% to 18%, lowered employment by 3% to 4% and reduced productivity by 3% to 4%.

Starmer’s pitch to put Britain at the heart of Europe remains unclear given the prime minister has ruled out rejoining the EU single market.

More details are expected Wednesday, when King Charles III delivers the King’s Speech, a ceremonial address written by the government that outlines its plans to Parliament.

Potential challengers

Even as Starmer tried to project stability, attention inside Labour increasingly turned to who might replace him.

Much speculation has centered on Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester who remains popular with parts of the party’s left and center.

Burnham earlier this year tried to return to Parliament through a by-election but was blocked by Labour’s ruling body that oversees candidate selection. Without being elected to Parliament, Burnham cannot attempt a leadership challenge.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan added to the pressure over the weekend, saying Burnham should be allowed back into Parliament if an opening emerged.

Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, is another potential challenger, although her reputation took a hit when she resigned last September after it emerged she underpaid property tax on an apartment purchase.

During a speech to a Communication Workers Union conference in Bournemouth Monday, she criticized the current direction of the government.

“What the Labour government is doing isn’t working,” Rayner said. She argued, “the cost of living is the top issue for voters of all parties,” and voters are turning to “populists and nationalists because we have not done enough to fix it.”

She argued that the Labour Party “must now live up to its name,” and “be the party for working people.”

Another name circulating among Labour lawmakers is Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a senior figure on the party’s center-right wing and longtime Starmer ally.

Streeting has drawn attention for his handling of the National Health Service, including repeated disputes with striking healthcare workers over pay, and for controversy surrounding his relationship with former U.K. ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson, who has ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

For now, Labour’s restive lawmakers face a practical problem: There is no consensus candidate and no clear path to removing a sitting prime minister.

Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.

Follow @jayfranklinlive