7m ago
10.37 BST
TSSA
union general secretary says Labour facing disaster, like Democrats under
Biden, unless Starmer goes
Maryam
Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA transport union, has said Keir
Starmer should resign. In a statement she said:
Unions
like the TSSA will not stand by in the wake of this electoral disaster and let
Keir Starmer pave the way for a hard right government led by Nigel Farage.
Joe
Biden did exactly that in the US, and it’s clear from these results that we’re
facing a similar catastrophe unless Labour changes leadership and direction.
The
TSSA will now seek to work with other unions to assert our political influence
at all levels of the Labour party to try to deliver that.
At the
last general election, the country didn’t vote simply to repaint the front
bench red. People voted for meaningful change they could actually feel in their
lives.
That’s
why Labour urgently needs a leadership election to allow members to pick a
candidate who is much more responsive to the needs of working people and who
can stop the very real danger of a far-right government coming to power in this
country.
The TSSA
is one of the smaller unions affiliated to Labour and Eslamdoust has never been
a Starmer fan, and so her comments are not that surprising. But Starmer will be
worried about other union leaders saying the same. Earlier this week Steve
Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said a leadership contest
after the elections was inevitable.
1m ago
10.44 BST
Former PLP chair Dave Watts says Starmer should
stand aside and let Burnham take over
Dave Watts, a Labour peer and who served as whip
in the Commons under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has written an article for
HuffPost UK saying that Keir Starmer should stand aside to allow Andy Burnham
to replace him as Labour leader and PM. Watts, who was also chair of the PLP,
says:
The leadership question must be confronted
head-on and without further delay. Does Keir Starmer possess the qualities
required to steer the country through these turbulent times and reconnect with
a disillusioned electorate? On the evidence of Thursday’s results, the answer
is no.
It’s clear we need a change, and many MPs and
Labour voters are looking to the most successful and popular Labour politician,
Andy Burnham, to provide that change.
I believe that Andy should be allowed to stand in
a by-election to boost Labour’s prospects and to provide the leadership needed.
1h ago
09.21 BST
Starmer says he intends to lead Labour into next
election
In her final question, Sky’s Beth Rigby told Keir
Starmer that a member of his “top team” had messaged her to say that Starmer
was the problem for Labour and that if he stayed they risked handing the
country to Reform UK.
Asked what he would say to people who thought
that, Starmer replied:
What I say to that is we won a landslide victory
in July 2024. I led our party to that victory. That is a five year mandate to
change the country.
Yes, there are difficult conditions. The
inheritance was terrible. The international context is very, very difficult.
But we need to inject that hope and convince people that things can and will
get better.
And that’s why in coming days, I’ll set out the
further steps that we will take.
Asked if he would stand as PM at the next
election, Starmer replied:
Yes. There’s a five-year term I was elected to
do. I intend to see that through.
This question is significant because, while many
Labour MPs do not want Starmer to resign now, there is a widespread view that
he should not lead them into the next election.
(Rigby asked if Starmer would be Labour’s leader
going into the next election. Starmer said yes, but in his fuller answer he
just talked about serving a full five-year term. In truth, though, no prime
minister can easily say they don’t intend to fight the next election, because
as soon as they do, they lose all authority.)
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