More than 70 Labour Party parliamentarians have backed the demand that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer step down, following the poor results obtained in the local elections last Thursday. In these elections, the far-right Reform party, led by Nigel Farage, made significant advances, while the Labour leader remains firm in his refusal to resign and maintains that his departure would only deepen the political "chaos" in the country.
According to the count by the British broadcaster BBC, 71 Labour MPs have called for Starmer's resignation or, at least, for him to set a clear timetable for leaving the Executive. For its part, Sky News raises the figure to 72 parliamentarians.
Among the signatories is Jonathan Hinder, who told the BBC that "the prime minister will go", before adding that "no prime minister can survive with so many MPs losing confidence in him".
"We need a new leader for the Labour Party and our country needs a new leader," he claimed, insisting that Starmer, despite the crushing Labour victory of 2024, "has never been an electoral asset."
Pressure from Starmer's cabinet
The internal response is not limited to the parliamentary group. Both BBC and Sky News agree that the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has urged the Prime Minister to set a date for his departure. Sky News also adds the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, among the critical voices within the Government itself. They are the two highest-ranking figures in the cabinet, only below Starmer himself and the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
On a lower rung, the head of Social Assistance at the Ministry of Health, Stephen Kinnock, has considered that the cabinet members "could well" suggest to the Labour prime minister that he take a step back at the weekly meeting scheduled for this Tuesday morning.
"They very well could... I don't get inside the heads of any of my cabinet colleagues," he answered on the BBC when questioned about whether ministers will tell Starmer that the time has come to resign. Asked later about the possibility that some might break discipline in that meeting, he indicated that "it is possible that some cabinet members will do so," although he stressed that he has "no idea."
"I just hope they stop for a moment, reflect, and think about the potential chaos this could unleash, and that they remember what we said when this chaos was happening under the conservative government," he added, referring to the Labour Party's stance on the successive changes in the leadership of the 'Tory' Executive, initially headed by Boris Johnson.
Starmer clings to office despite internal frustration
Starmer has admitted this Monday the "frustration" existing around his figure after the poor performance of the Labour Party in the municipal elections on Thursday, but has once again rejected the option of resigning and has opted to reverse the situation. He has reiterated that his departure would only "plunge" the United Kingdom into "chaos".
"I am not going to hide the fact that I have detractors, even within my own party. And I am not going to hide the fact that I have to prove them wrong. And I will do it," stated the Labour leader, insisting that his resignation would only worsen "the chaos" in which, according to him, "the Conservatives have plunged (the country) time and time again" with continuous leadership changes since 2019.
In any case, the crisis in Labour has already caused concrete movements, although in the opposite direction to the doubts about Starmer's continuity. Following the resignation of six ministerial advisers —unpaid positions, below the level of undersecretaries of state, the lowest level of the three ministerial tiers— or their demand that the prime minister set a timetable for his resignation, Downing Street has announced the replacement of all of them. These positions are distributed among the departments of Health and Social Care; Justice; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Home Office; Work and Pensions; and the Cabinet Office itself.