Bristol and South West Labour MPs rally behind Starmer while city’s Green MP says people want change

Nearly 80 of Labour’s 403 MPs have demanded the PM’s departure following a brutal set of election results

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets construction apprentices during a visit to London South Bank Technical College on Tuesday (May 12)(Image: Toby Melville/PA Wire)

Bristol and South West Labour MPs have rallied behind Prime Minister Keir Starmer after he vowed at a Cabinet meeting today to get on with governing in the face of growing calls for him to resign.

No leadership challenge has been triggered, but nearly 80 of Labour’s 403 MPs have demanded the PM’s departure following a brutal set of election results last week. Dozens of Labour MPs have now publicly called for Keir Starmer to quit as pressure mounts.

While Bristol Central Green Party MP Carla Denyer claimed Labour is heading into chaos and that people had voted for change at last week’s elections.

Starmer told his Cabinet on Tuesday morning (May 12): “I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised. The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families. The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered. The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet.”

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and MP for Bristol North West Darren Jones, posted on X giving his backing to Starmer, shortly after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting and havng attended the Middle East Response Committee.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones arrives in Downing Street ahead of a Cabinet meeting(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

Referring to the confilict in Iran and the ongoing cost of living crisis in the UK, he said: “Serious times call for serious leadership, which is exactly whatr the Prime Minister is providing.”

Before that in the same post on X he had stated: “The impact of the conflict in Iran will be felt here at home at a time wehen we know the cost of living has been difficult for many. This Labour government is working hard to protect families and businesses from the economic shocks as mich as we can.”

Also posting on X on Tuesday afternoon, was Labour’s Filton and Bradley Stoke MP, Claire Hazelgrove, who was fully behind Starmer, stating: “Before the election, the prime minister said time and again that it would take time to deliver the scale of the change that Britain needs. I lost count of the number of times I said this on doorsteps, too.

“In changing a country, you can’t simply skip to the end point, and just focus on your outcomes, without doing the hard yards to get there. And also without learning a lot along the way.Governing is tough. It’s meant to be.

“If you’ve been around in my party long enough, you’ve mostly experienced defeat, and the inability to make change that matters happen at scale.The prime minister brought us back from irrelevance and rebuilt trust with the country. So I’m not going to throw the towel in on our project of change in under two years.”

She added: “We’ve already made impactful change happen that has lifted children out of poverty, seen people get lifesaving NHS treatment faster, and government-funded childcare, breakfast clubs and Sure Start-style services give entire families more opportunities.

“Given what we inherited, and having to put fires out urgently, much of it has come into force recently and so isn’t yet being felt. That’s completely true. And yes we’ve made some mistakes, and we need to deliver more, and more deeply to tackle the underlying drivers of the hardest challenges Britain faces.

“And we need to find ways to speed this up, too. I know the prime minister is fully aware of all of this. He’s never said otherwise. Quite the opposite. We need to use every moment of the next three years to work tirelessly to deliver security, stability and fairness.

“That is what we have been elected to do. What we do not need is internal chaos at the top (people did not thank the Tories for this) instead of this lesson-learning and action, which would risk harm to the economy and trust in politics even further.

“And certainly not with the impact of war on two fronts, a cost of living crisis, and after all the hard work to make Britain an active, respected partner again on the world stage at such a volatile time. This is what the prime minister is focusing on, and I support him to do so. There is so much work to do to bring about a Britain grounded in stability, fairness and opportunity – the Britain I know most of us believe in. Let’s crack on.”

Minister for Health and Social Care Karin Smyth visits nurses at Sirona Care in South Gloucestershire on International Nurses Day, Tuesday 12 May 2026(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc)

Earlier today, Labour’s Bristol South MP Karin Smyth, Minister for Health and Social Care, was visiting nurses at Sirona Care in South Gloucestershire to mark International Nurses Day.

When asked about the upheaval at Westminster she said she and Labour “are very much focused on delivering for the health service. We’ve done a great job in less that two years, bringing down waiting lists, improving access to general practice, we are starting to turn it around and that is what we are 100 % focused on.”

Sadik Al-Hassan, MP for North Somerset, which ecompasses the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea and Portishead, said the issues going forward were larger than a reshuffle of leadership, adding: “Over the last few days, voices have grown louder, calling for action, a change in direction, or a change in leadership.

“The local election results are one lens, but nearly two years of governing tells a fuller story. At heart, I am a centrist with a left lean, left of centre on some issues, right of centre on others, guided by what I believe is right issue by issue.

“When I look honestly at what this Government has achieved, one pattern stands out: Where we believe something is right, we have too often been timid in pursuing it. Yet where we’ve landed on something deeply unpopular, we’ve dug in. The root of that problem, in my view, is a lack of a clear destination, a vision of the country we’re trying to build.

“For me, that guiding light is fairness. It should be our north star. A country that is more fair and more just, governed by principles rather than polls. Accountability is bigger than one person. The changes we need are bigger than one person, too, bolder than one fix, broader than one reshuffle.”

Green Party MP for Bristol Central, Carla Denyer claimed Labour is heading into chaos and that the elecorate had demonstrated that it wants change – having gone to the polls last week.

She said: “The local election results show that people up and down the country want change. But despite their promise of a reset, this Government is descending into the same Westminster chaos that we’ve seen for years from the two main parties.

“To me it’s clear, Starmer has to go. But while Labour is busy navel gazing, I have already got to work post-local elections in putting pressure on the government to hear the call of the many people who voted Green last week.

“I have written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – alongside the Green Party’s two new mayors – to demand they start doing something that would actually benefit the thousands of people renting privately in Bristol: introduce rent controls in the King’s Speech tomorrow. I hope he’s listened.”