<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n
Maja Smiejkowska\/AP<\/p>\n
LONDON (AP) \u2014 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his job after devastating local election results for his Labour Party spurred dozens of lawmakers to call for his resignation.<\/p>\n
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Starmer plans to use a speech on Monday to argue that he can change tack and revive his government\u2019s fortunes. But his position is fragile as rivals weigh their options. One lawmaker, Catherine West, said she will try to trigger a leadership contest if she doesn\u2019t like what she hears in the speech.<\/p>\n
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Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, often seen as a potential challenger, said the party \u201cneeds to change,\u201d though she did not explicitly call for Starmer to go.<\/p>\n
She said \u201cthe prime minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starmer is trying to regain momentum after heavy losses for his center-left party in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. Last week\u2019s elections were widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide less than two years ago.<\/p>\n
His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform. He has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain\u2019s ambassador to Washington.<\/p>\n
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Last week\u2019s elections saw Labour squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both the anti-immigration Reform UK and the \u201ceco-populist\u201d Green Party. It reflects the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.<\/p>\n
Still, Starmer told The Observer newspaper on Sunday that he wants to remain in office for a decade. He\u2019s pinning his hopes on Monday\u2019s speech and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out in a speech Wednesday by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.<\/p>\n
A key policy is closer ties with the European Union, which the United Kingdom left in 2020, four years after the \u201cleave\u201d side narrowly won a membership referendum. Starmer\u2019s government has already moved to ease some of the trade restrictions that have burdened British businesses since Brexit, and he says he will secure a youth mobility deal so young people can spend a few years working across the continent.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrexit has held back our young people,\u201d Starmer told The Observer, adding that \u201cwe have to be closer to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Labour campaigned to stay in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign, but has been reluctant to reopen a debate that bitterly divided the country. Starmer has ruled out seeking to reenter the EU, or to rejoin the EU\u2019s customs union or single market, two things that would make a big difference to U.K. businesses.<\/p>\n
Starmer\u2019s future hangs in the balance<\/p>\n
None of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers to Starmer \u2014 including Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham \u2014 has called for him to resign.<\/p>\n
But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.<\/p>\n
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Josh Simons, a formerly loyal Labour lawmaker, wrote in the Times of London that Starmer \u201chas lost the country\u201d and \u201cshould take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
West, a former junior minister, is trying to hurry the process along, vowing to try to trigger a leadership contest unless Starmer delivers a barnstorming speech on Monday. West acknowledged she does not have the support of 81 colleagues, needed to force a contest, and her move appeared to be an attempt to force more high-profile contenders to make a move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking people sent us a message,\u201d West said. \u201cWe have to listen to that, and we have to change and we have to do it quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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