Keir Starmer is facing the gravest crisis of his premiership after 58 Labour MPs publicly called for him to resign following catastrophic local election losses across England, Scotland and Wales.
The scale of the revolt represents an extraordinary collapse in authority for the Prime Minister, whose leadership is now being openly questioned by MPs from across Labour’s ideological spectrum, not just the party’s traditional Left.
After Labour suffered heavy defeats in council elections, lost ground to the SNP in Scotland and was removed from power in Wales for the first time since devolution, MPs lined up to demand what many described as an “orderly transition” in Downing Street.
Several MPs warned that voters had simply stopped listening to Sir Keir, while others said he had “lost the country” and could not lead Labour into another general election.
The backlash intensified after the Prime Minister attempted to reset his administration with a speech this morning, a move that critics inside Labour dismissed as inadequate and detached from the scale of the electoral damage.
Among the most striking interventions was that of Josh Simons, once considered one of Sir Keir’s closest allies. The former minister said the Prime Minister had “lost the country” and should oversee “an orderly transition to a new prime minister”.
Clive Betts, Labour’s longest-serving MP, said the public had “just stopped listening to Keir”, while Clive Lewis declared the Prime Minister “needs to go” and said that was “not negotiable”.
Louise Haigh, Sir Keir’s former transport secretary, warned that without “significant and urgent change” the Prime Minister could not lead Labour into another election.
Backbench MPs from the Left, including John McDonnell, Richard Burgon and Nadia Whittome, joined figures from more moderate and socially conservative wings of the party in calling for change.
Connor Naismith, associated with the Blue Labour caucus, described the election results as “catastrophic”, while Tony Vaughan, an ally of Angela Rayner, accused Labour of being “hamstrung” by the “personification of earlier, serious, mistakes”.
Several MPs explicitly linked Labour’s losses to the rise of Reform UK and Nigel Farage, warning that the party risked electoral collapse unless it changed course quickly.
Ian Lavery warned Sir Keir could “kill the Labour Party” if he stayed in post, while Neil Duncan-Jordan argued that replacing the leader without changing policy would be meaningless.
The rebellion also exposed growing fractures between Labour’s Westminster leadership and MPs in traditional working-class areas, particularly in the North and Midlands, where many said voters no longer trusted the Government.
Emma Lewell, the MP for South Shields, described Sir Keir’s attempted reset speech as “a speech that should have begun with ‘sorry’”, accusing the Government of operating inside an “internal echo chamber”.
Catherine McKinnell, a former education minister, said it was “time for a new leader to take us to the finish line of this term and onto the next”.
Even MPs elected in Labour’s landslide 2024 victory joined the calls for resignation. Abtisam Mohamed said Labour needed leadership that “brings people together”, while Fred Thomas said it had become “unavoidably clear” that voters were not feeling improvement under the current leadership.
The breadth of the revolt has deepened concerns inside Labour that Sir Keir’s authority may be beyond repair.
Many MPs stopped short of demanding his immediate departure, but repeatedly called for a timetable for resignation before September or next year’s local elections.
Others openly discussed potential successors, with Clive Lewis backing Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as a future Labour leader.
By Monday evening, pressure on Downing Street showed no sign of easing, with MPs continuing to break cover and publicly question whether Sir Keir could survive politically after one of the worst local election performances in Labour’s history.
Labour list article- 77 Labour M.P’s are calling for Keir Starmer to resign