Sir Keir Starmer will vow to “face up to the big challenges” after a dire set of election results in Scotland, Wales and across English councils left him battling to save his job.
The result of Thursday’s voting has led to calls from around 40 Labour MPs for a leadership change after suffering heavy losses to Reform UK, the Green Party, the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
The prime minister faces a leadership challenge by backbencher Catherine West as early as Monday if his Cabinet does not force him out, but he has vowed to stay on and see through what he calls his “10-year project” for the UK.
In a speech on Monday, the PM is expected to set out the next steps in his plan to “build a stronger and fairer Britain”, ahead of the King’s Speech, which will set out his government’s priorities for new laws in Parliament.
“To meet the challenges that our country faces incremental change won’t cut it,” he is expected to say. “On growth, defence, Europe, energy – we need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024 because these are not ordinary times.
“Strength through fairness. It’s a core Labour argument. And you will see those values writ large in the King’s Speech. And you will see hope, urgency and exactly whose side we are on.”
Starmer is expected to add: “People need hope. We will face up to the big challenges and we will make the big arguments.
“The Labour case that only Labour values and Labour policies can ensure our country not only weathers these storms but emerges stronger and fairer.”
The PM will go on to say that Nigel Farage and the Conservatives are “defined by breaking our relationship with Europe”.
“This Labour Government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship and by putting Britain at the heart of Europe,” Starmer is expected to say. “So that we are stronger on the economy, on trade, on defence, you name it.
“Because standing shoulder to shoulder with the countries that most share our interests, our values and our enemies that is the right choice for Britain, that is the Labour choice.”
Starmer’s speech on Monday marks the start of a crunch week for his premiership.
Labour MPs will be encouraged to endorse a leadership challenge if he fails to convince them he can pull the party out of its existential slump.
West will decide whether to seek the 81 nominations from MPs for a leadership challenge if she is still “dissatisfied” after Starmer’s speech.
The former minister has made clear her campaign is an attempt to force the Cabinet to get behind a candidate to move against Starmer rather than a credible challenge to win the keys to No 10 herself.
Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said Starmer had to “meet the moment and set out the change our country needs” as she called for Andy Burnham’s return to Parliament.
Both Rayner and Greater Manchester Mayor Burnham are seen as potential leadership contenders.
Rayner, the former deputy Labour leader, called for a shift to the left in a lengthy statement which set out her vision for the party.
“What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change. This may be our last chance,” she said.
The Mandelson scandal showed a “toxic culture of cronyism”, Labour is “in danger of becoming a party of the well-off, not working people” and “it is time to acknowledge that blocking Andy Burnham was a mistake”, she said.
While Rayner stopped short of calling for Sir Keir to go, dozens of MPs from across the party – not just the prime minister’s usual critics on the left – have demanded change at the top.
Former minister Josh Simons, who previously led the Labour Together think tank on the party’s right, said: “We Labour MPs must square up to the truth.
“These elections were not a normal mid-term drubbing, they were an unequivocal judgement that our actions do not meet the moment.
“To put the country first, the PM should lead an orderly transition. Senior figures across the party should urgently come together to agree a path forward.”
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