Two Welsh Labour MPs among more than 60 to call for Keir Starmer to resign

Two Welsh MPs have joined scores of their fellow Labour MPs calling for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down following a disastrous set of election results.

MP for Gower, Tonia Antoniazzi and Newport West and Islwyn MP Ruth Jones, were among those urging the Prime Minister to quit.

Meanwhile, three Government aides have also resigned this evening. Joe Morris, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, and Tom Rutland, a PPS to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, urged the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure as they quit on Monday.

Cabinet Office PPS Naushabah Khan resigned calling for “new leadership” while Sally Jameson, a PPS to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, has also joined the growing calls for Sir Keir to step aside.

In a statement on X, Mr Morris said: “I have boundless confidence in the Labour Party and our ability to rise to this moment.

“However, regrettably, it is now clear that the Prime Minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change.”

Mr Rutland said the Prime Minister had “lost authority” within the Parliamentary Labour Party and across the country, and “will not be able to regain it”.

“Time and time again, speaking with voters at their doors, I heard little dislike for local councillors nor for the Labour Party, but the animosity towards the Prime Minister was clear from every voter who was choosing to vote for another party or considering doing so,” he said.

Ms Khan said: “I am calling for new leadership so that we can rebuild trust and deliver the better future that the British people voted for.”

The Prime Minister sought to face down critics on Monday with a promise to prove his doubters wrong, as former minister Catherine West withdrew threats to imminently launch a leadership challenge.

But his speech failed to quell demands that he quit or set out a timetable for his departure from discontented backbenchers, who numbered 59 by Monday evening.

Ms West had previously said she would challenge Sir Keir for the party leadership as early as Monday afternoon, in an attempt to force the Cabinet to put forward a replacement as prime minister.

After Sir Keir insisted he would not “walk away”, the former Foreign Office minister said she would now canvass support within the party for the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his resignation by September.

Speculation about the Prime Minister’s future has intensified since Thursday’s elections, in which Labour lost almost 1,500 English councillors, went backwards in Scotland and slumped to third in Wales.

In a speech in central London on Monday, Sir Keir said he took “responsibility” for the losses but would fight on.

Monday’s address had been billed as a move to set out sweeping changes needed to tackle the “big challenges” facing Britain, and was widely seen as a “make-or-break” moment for the Prime Minister.

Sir Keir set out a number of measures including legislation to nationalise British Steel, a ban on “far-right agitators” coming to the UK for a planned march on Saturday and a plan to put the UK “at the heart of Europe”.

🚨 BREAKING: 60 Labour MPs have now publicly called for Keir Starmer to resign

Clive Betts
Sarah Owen
Connor Naismith
David Baines
John McDonnell
Ian Lavery
Clive Lewis
Jonathan Brash
Louise Haigh
Anneliese Midgley
Simon Opher
Richard Burgon
Olivia Blake
Paula Barker
Ian Byrne…

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 11, 2026

He cast the current political moment as a “battle for the soul” of the UK, warning that if Labour failed, the country would head down “a very dark path”.

A handful of backbenchers spoke up in support of the Prime Minister afterwards, with Macclesfield MP Tim Roca and Gedling’s Michael Payne saying Sir Keir had demonstrated he understood “the scale of the challenge” facing the country.

But others from across the party – going far beyond his usual critics on the left – continued to demand his resignation.

North Northumberland MP David Smith, who has been the UK’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief since 2024, said Labour owed “a debt of gratitude” to Sir Keir but he could not “carry on with the approach we have taken” since the general election.

Blue Labour, an internal pressure group founded by Labour peer Lord Maurice Glasman, also called on Monday for the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure.

Others have looked towards Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, saying he should be allowed to return to Parliament.

But Sir Keir would not be drawn on whether he would support Mr Burnham’s return to Westminster, saying it was a matter for Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).

The NEC, dominated by supporters of the Prime Minister, blocked Mr Burnham from contesting the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year, and the formerly safe Labour seat was won by the Greens.

In a speech to the Communication Workers Union on Monday, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner – herself regarded as a potential leadership contender – said the decision to block Mr Burnham should be “put right”.

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan also backed Mr Burnham’s return to Parliament, telling PA this should happen “sooner rather than later” but that he was not calling for a leadership change, only a change in the “pace of delivery”.

Mr Burnham is yet to comment publicly on reports that he intends to attempt a return to Westminster, and has pulled out of an event at which he was due to speak on Tuesday.

A Survation poll for Compass, conducted before the local elections, found 55% of the British public think Sir Keir should stand down, and 22% think he can turn things around.

Responding to the speech, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said it was “sad to watch”, adding: “With so many resets, even his reset button needs a reset.

“But I do not take pleasure in watching the Prime Minister flounder.

“The country needs leadership, not another speech from a man who clearly knows something has gone badly wrong, but still can’t explain why.”

Mrs Badenoch also dismissed Labour’s “pretenders jostling for his job”, saying: “They are busy arguing over who should drive the car, but the truth is they are all heading in the wrong direction. They have no vision for the future.”