Starmer takes responsibility for ‘tough’ election results but vows to carry on

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.

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”.

After 41 of 136 English councils had declared:

– Labour had lost control in eight, losing 204 seats.

– Reform won control of Newcastle-under-Lyme from the Conservatives and have gained 275 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, taking control of Stockport and Portsmouth, and becoming the only party on Richmond upon Thames Council, but lost their slender majority in Hull.

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

– The Green Party made modest gains in the early hours, but expected to improve significantly over the course of Friday as the party’s target councils in London declare their results.