UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces divided cabinet as resignation calls mount
Christine Maguire
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a cabinet meeting on Tuesday after more than 80 Labour MPs called for his resignation following the party's crushing local election defeat. Starmer has accepted responsibility but vowed not to step down, warning against the chaos of frequent leadership changes. The cabinet is reportedly deeply divided, with some ministers suggesting a transition of power.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a cabinet meeting on Tuesday as more than 80 Labour MPs have called on him to resign following his party's devastating loss in last week's local elections.
According to sources, the cabinet is divided over whether Starmer should continue in power. Key minister Darren Jones said the prime minister is speaking with colleagues but “made it very clear yesterday that he will not stand down.”
UK media report that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has suggested the prime minister oversee a transition of power, amid a wave of resignation calls from MPs, and six ministerial aides resigned on Monday. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Defence Secretary John Healey also met Starmer on the same day.
Speaking on Monday, Starmer accepted responsibility for the “very difficult” election result but warned that Labour would “never be forgiven” if it caused “the chaos of frequent leadership changes” as the Conservatives did.
Last Thursday’s local elections saw Labour lose more than 1,400 seats and control of Wales, while Reform UK and the Green Party gained seats.
A leadership contest requires the support of 81 Labour MPs, equivalent to 20% of the party in the House of Commons.
Potential leadership candidates include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
However, Rayner’s candidacy is hampered until an investigation into her tax affairs is resolved. She resigned in 2025 after admitting she underpaid stamp duty on a flat, which she said was due to incorrect legal advice.
Burnham, who has the highest approval rating of the three, would need to return as an MP. He was blocked by the Labour National Executive Committee, which includes Starmer, from becoming a candidate in February’s by-election in Gorton and Denton. In her call for change on Monday, Rayner described blocking Burnham as a “mistake.”
In his speech on Monday, Starmer described Labour as “a mainstream party of power, not protest.” He criticised the right-wing Reform UK and the Green Party, saying both exploit “the despair they tap into and amplify” and fail to offer “the serious, progressive leadership the times demand.”
Starmer’s government has been in power since 2024, when Labour ended 14 years of Conservative rule with a landslide victory. His popularity has declined, with decisions to cut winter fuel payments during the cost-of-living crisis, Labour’s policy on Gaza, and the scandal over US Ambassador Peter Mandelson’s links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contributing to falling approval ratings. In this period, support for both Reform UK and Polanski’s Green Party has grown, as Polanski has sharply criticised Israel’s genocide war in Gaza.
