UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has insisted he will stay in office, even as a junior minister resigned and more than 70 Labour backbenchers demanded he set a timetable for stepping down. The crisis follows heavy losses for Labour in local elections across England, Scotland, and Wales last week, which have shaken the party's confidence less than two years after Starmer's landslide general election victory.
Speaking to Cabinet ministers on Tuesday, Starmer acknowledged responsibility for the electoral rout but declared he would fight on. “The country expects us to get on with governing,” he said. “That is what I am doing and what we must do.” He noted that the formal process to oust a party leader has not been triggered.
Resignation and Rebellion
Miatta Fahnbulleh, the housing, communities and local government minister, stepped down on Tuesday, urging Starmer “to do the right thing for the country” and set a departure timetable. In her resignation letter, she argued that the government had not acted “with the vision, pace and mandate for change it had been given by voters.” She added, “Nor have we governed as a Labour Party clear about our values and strong in our convictions.”
Fahnbulleh’s exit adds to the pressure on Starmer, who on Monday delivered a speech in London intended to reassure his critics. He rejected calls to resign, vowing to “face up to the big challenges” and restore hope to Britain. But the rebellion now includes nearly a fifth of Labour’s parliamentary representation, a sign of deep unease within the party.
The local elections, widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer’s leadership, saw Labour squeezed from both the right and the left. The anti-immigrant Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party both made gains, reflecting the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.
Starmer’s government has struggled to deliver on its promises of economic growth, repair tattered public services, and shield households from the rising cost of living. Confidence has also been damaged by policy U-turns on welfare reform and the controversial appointment of Peter Mandelson, a figure linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as ambassador to the United States.
The crisis comes as Starmer pursues a reset of relations with the European Union, a key plank of his foreign policy. The rise of Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has made that push more urgent, as one UK minister recently noted. However, the internal turmoil risks undermining his ability to negotiate effectively with Brussels.
For now, Starmer appears determined to weather the storm. But with local election results that, if repeated nationally, would see Labour overwhelmingly ejected from power, the question is whether his party will give him the time to turn things around.
