Keir Starmer took aim at Brexit and said forging closer ties with Europe will be at the heart of his response to Labour’s dismal showing in the local elections, as he vowed to lead the party into the next general election.
The beleaguered prime minister is battling for his political future after Labour lost more than 1,200 council seats in England this week, and relinquished control of 37 councils.
Reform UK gained more than 1,350 seats and took control of 14 councils, including eight previously run by Labour – many of which were in the party’s northern English heartlands.
The results extended beyond the north of England as Labour also lost control of the Welsh Senedd for the first time – being reduced to just nine seats out of the 96 available in Cardiff Bay, with first minister Eluned Morgan even losing her seat in a a further humiliation, while the SNP claimed victory once again in Scotland.
In his first major interview since the elections, the prime minister told the Sunday Mirror that he would be “full-throated” about the need for closer ties with Brussels and insisted he would lead Labour into the next general election as he explained how he would attempt to continue with his 10-year project of “national renewal”.
The PM said: “I feel that Brexit has held back our young people. They should be free to work, study, travel in European countries, just as I was able to when I was growing up.
“That has been smashed away from young people because of Brexit. I’m not going to let Brexit stand in the way of their opportunities, and therefore we’ll push forward on that.”
Labour lost control of councils to Nigel Farage’s party in areas which voted leave in the 2016 European Union referendum, such as St Helens and Sunderland – both of which have long been seen as strongholds for the party.
In an apparent attempt to address the concerns of voters who felt left behind, Sir Keir promised “an economy that really works for everyone, wherever they live”.
The Sunday Mirror reported that No 10 and the Treasury are drawing up support for families, targeting fuel costs and household bills which have soared since the Iran war pushed up global oil and gas prices.
But Sir Keir faces a fight to keep his job as former Foreign Office minister Catherine West has promised to launch a leadership bid on Monday unless Sir Keir is ushered out by the Cabinet.
Speaking to The Independent, Ms West said: “We had cataclysmic election results last week and our response so far does not match the emergency that faces us. I am terrified we will end up with prime minister Farage.”
Around 30 Labour backbenchers have publicly suggested Sir Keir should either quit or set a timetable for his departure.
Mr Starmer said he would fight for his job in the face of a challenge. “I’m not going to walk away from the job I was elected to do in July 2024”, he said. “Of course the results are tough, they’re really tough and I’m not sugar coating that.”
Asked if he would lead Labour at the next general election, the prime minister told the Sunday Mirror: “Yes I will, and I’ve always said it’s a decade of national renewal, where the legacy we inherited was an appalling legacy on all fronts, not just the economy, which was broken.
“Public services were broken and actually the situation was worse when we got into office than we thought beforehand. There has to be a 10 year project of renewal, because if it’s to be done properly, that’s how it needs to be done.”
Labour’s election embarrassments extended into London, where the Green Party toppled a huge red majority in Lewisham to take control of their third London council. Zack Polanski’s party also ousted the Labour mayor of Hackney and won the borough’s council election, as well as taking Waltham Forest from Sir Keir’s party.
In an interview with The Observer, the prime minister brushed off the threat posed by the Greens and Reform at the next general election, despite their victories in Labour areas this week.
He said: “I have a strong belief that there aren’t many people who actually want Zack Polanski or Nigel Farage as prime minister.
“I think that the mainstream majority actually want to know that we, the Government, have progressive answers to the challenges that they face on a daily basis, and we need to spell out in terms and with conviction that we do have those progressive answers.”
Sir Keir responded to the elections by giving roles to two Labour grandees on Saturday – he handed former prime minister Gordon Brown a role as special envoy on global finance and made Baroness Harriet Harman his adviser on women and girls.
