Starmer: ‘I’m not going to walk away’ after Labour suffers electoral mauling

Sir Keir Starmer insisted he would carry on as Prime Minister despite Labour suffering disastrous local election losses.

He acknowledged it had been a “tough” night for Labour but said that “days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised”.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made gains across the country as hundreds of Labour councillors were voted out, heaping pressure on the Prime Minister.

Mr Farage said the results showed a “truly historic shift in British politics” away from the old era of Labour and Conservative domination, vowing “the best is yet to come” for his party.

Sir Keir faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout Friday in both English local elections and contests for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.

In Wales, Labour is expected to lose the national vote for the first time in more than a century while the SNP appears likely to remain the largest party in Scotland after 19 years in power.

Sir Keir, speaking at Kingsdown Methodist Church in Ealing, west London, on Friday morning, said: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it.

“We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.

“And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.”

Sir Keir has already faced speculation about his position, with the Times reporting Energy Secretary and former leader Ed Miliband had urged the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure.

But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy urged his party not to play “pass the parcel” with the leadership in response to the election results.

And Defence Secretary John Healey said Sir Keir should be given more time, saying “he can still turn it round”.

But Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, who watched his wife lose her council seat overnight as Reform UK surged in the authority, said: “It’s clear to me that the Prime Minister should take this opportunity to set out a timetable for his own departure, and then allow for the widest possible leadership election that includes all the talents of our party.”

Labour sources pointed to poor local election results under previous prime ministers, including Sir Tony Blair who lost 1,100 councillors in 1999 but went on to win re-election in a landslide in 2001.

Meanwhile, Mr Farage hailed early results from Thursday’s local election as a sign his party was on course for victory at a general election that is still up to three years away.

A jubilant Mr Farage heralded a “historic change in British politics”, telling reporters “there is no more left-right” as his outfit was “scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas”.

His party claimed victory in Havering, its first London borough, and Mr Farage said it showed Reform were a truly national outfit, with gains across England and progress expected in Scotland and Wales.

Mr Farage said: “It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way.”

Reform also took control of Essex County Council – Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s local authority – from the Conservatives.

After 44 of 136 English councils had declared full results:

– Labour had lost control in eight, losing 206 seats.

– As well as the Havering and Essex successes, Reform won control of Newcastle-under-Lyme from the Conservatives and have gained 320 councillors.

– Labour’s losses included Wandsworth and Westminster in London, and Tameside, which includes Angela Rayner’s Greater Manchester constituency.

– The Liberal Democrats appeared on course to record an eighth consecutive year of council gains, putting on 23 seats, taking control of Stockport and Portsmouth, and becoming the only party on Richmond upon Thames Council, but they lost their slender majority in Hull.

– The Conservatives suffered 80 losses but enjoyed some bright points, managing to regain Westminster from Labour and hold on to Harlow in Essex and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and they once again became the largest party in their former flagship authority in Wandsworth.

– The Green Party’s Zoe Garbett was elected mayor of Hackney in a defeat for Labour, with the party hoping to make further gains in the capital.

Sir Keir said he would not “plunge the country into chaos” by quitting and the markets remained steady as investors digested the election results.

Yields on 30-year government bonds, also known as gilts, edged lower to 5.61%, having reached a 28-year high of 5.798% on Tuesday amid concerns over rising inflation and political uncertainty.

Gilt yields move counter to the value of the bonds, meaning their prices rise when yields fall.

On the stock market, investors remained focused on the situation in the Middle East, with the FTSE 100 Index down 0.7% at 10206.9, while oil prices ticked higher to stand at just in excess of 100 US dollars (£73) a barrel.