UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will attempt a political fightback on Monday (11 May) with a speech promising closer ties with the European Union after Labour suffered heavy local election losses and growing calls for his resignation.
Starmer will promise to rebuild ties with the EU and put Britain “at the heart of Europe” in the speech, while also committing to bolder action on growth, defence and energy.
“To meet the challenges that our country faces, incremental change won’t cut it,” he will add.
Starmer’s party lost more than 1,100 English council seats in last week’s local elections, including in traditionally Labour areas in northern England and inner London.
Labour was also heavily defeated in Scotland and Wales, where elections for the devolved parliaments were held.
Lawmakers call for change of course
More than 30 Labour lawmakers have said Starmer should resign or set out a timetable for his departure following the local election defeats, the worst for a governing party in more than three decades.
Labour lawmaker Catherine West, a little-known former junior minister, called on the Cabinet over the weekend to oust the Prime Minister and threatened to trigger a leadership contest herself if she remained unhappy following Starmer’s speech on Monday.
Pressure on Starmer increased after former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner warned on Sunday, in a rare intervention, that the Labour Party could be facing its “last chance” to change direction.
Rayner is seen as one of the leading candidates to replace Starmer, alongside Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
A high stakes bet on Europe
A pledge to deepen ties with Europe would likely prove popular with Labour lawmakers and younger voters whom the party has lost to the Greens, with polls showing that about 60% of Britons now believe leaving the EU was a mistake.
However, efforts to rebuild relations would likely face strong opposition from right-wing populists Reform UK, which emerged as the biggest winner from last week’s local elections after gaining more than 1,450 council seats.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was the driving force behind the Brexit campaign that resulted in the UK voting to leave the EU in 2016.
The move could also open up a politically sensitive debate over immigration from Europe.
Immigration consistently ranks among British voters’ top three concerns, alongside the economy and healthcare.
Starmer won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history in 2024, but the scale of Labour’s victory masked how fragmented the national vote had become.
Labour secured almost two-thirds of the seats in the UK Parliament with only around a third of the national vote. By contrast, in 2017, Labour lost the general election despite winning 40% of the vote.
U-turns and scandals
Since taking office, attempts to rein in the country’s growing welfare bill have been hampered by opposition from Labour lawmakers, resulting in U-turns over winter fuel payments for pensioners and tighter eligibility rules for disability benefits.
Meanwhile, a series of scandals has damaged the Prime Minister’s credibility. Soon after being elected, senior Labour figures, including Starmer, faced criticism for accepting gifts and hospitality.
More recently, Starmer has faced scrutiny over the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington despite warnings about his links to convicted late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson resigned from the position in February after it was revealed he had shared confidential information while in public office.
Political churn and anger
The Labour Party has never removed one of its Prime Ministers in its more than 125-year history.
Under party rules, 20% of Labour lawmakers – or 81 MPs – would need to back a single candidate to trigger a leadership challenge.
So far, none of those considered Starmer’s main potential rivals has moved openly against him.
One of the favourites to replace Starmer, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, is not currently an MP and therefore cannot stand against him at present.
If Starmer is removed from office in the coming weeks, Britain will have had seven prime ministers in the past decade, marking the highest level of political turnover in nearly two centuries.
Analysts point to several factors behind the trend, including weak economic growth since the 2007–09 global financial crisis, strained public finances following heavy borrowing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and deep political polarisation after Brexit.
