UK politics live: Starmer vows to ‘face up to big challenges’ in make-or-break speech against leadership threat

A former minister and Starmer ally added his voice to the Labour MPs calling for the prime minister to resign.

Josh Simons, who was as Cabinet Office minister until a few weeks ago, declared Sir Keir has “lost the country” as he called on him to set out a timetable for his departure from No 10.

“This is bigger than any one person. All of us must be honest about these challenges, including those vying to replace the prime minister. We need radicalism, energy, and immense courage,” he wrote in the Sunday Times.

“Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the prime minister can rise to this moment. He has lost the country. He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”

Mr Simons was forced to resign in March amid a probe into claims a Labour think tank he once ran paid for an investigation to “smear” journalists.

Keir Starmer is set to defy his critics in the Labour Party and claim he is the one best placed to “face up to the big challenges for this country” as he delivers a career defining speech to save his premiership on Monday morning.

The prime minister’s speech comes after a dramatic ultimatum by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner who warned his government takes a hard turn to the left if he wants to stay in Downing Street.

With speculation mounting that she is ready to launch a leadership challenge, the former deputy prime minister warned Sir Keir: “What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change. This may be our last chance.”

It comes as Labour MPs believe that former junior minister Catherine West is closing in on the 81 parliamentarians she would need to launch a stalking horse leadership challenge.

Sir Keir Starmer will promise sweeping changes to address the “big challenges” confronting the UK as he battles to save his job.

The prime minister insists his plan will demonstrate “hope, urgency and exactly whose side we are on” after Labour’s disastrous election results in England, Scotland and Wales put his position in peril.

The speech on Monday marks the start of a crunch week for his premiership.

Labour MPs will be encouraged to endorse a leadership challenge if he fails to convince them he can pull the party out of a slump which has seen votes and seats flow to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Zack Polanski’s Green Party.

On Wednesday, the King’s Speech will set out his Government’s priorities for new laws in Parliament.

The prime minister will say: “To meet the challenges that our country faces, incremental change won’t cut it.

“On growth, defence, Europe, energy – we need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024 because these are not ordinary times.

“Strength through fairness. It’s a core Labour argument. And you will see those values writ large in the King’s Speech. And you will see hope, urgency and exactly whose side we are on.”

The Independent’s Athena Stavrou reports:

Labour MP Catherine West has told the cabinet that if they do not put someone forward to challenge Sir Keir by Monday, she will attempt to trigger a leadership contest herself.

Here is a look at how a potential Labour leadership contest could play out:

There is no formal confidence vote procedure to oust a Labour leader, which means challengers need to garner the support of the parliamentary party in order to oust them.

Any challenger would require the support 20 per cent of the party in the Commons, which is 81 MPs currently.

Ms West has pledged to launch a challenge with the backing of 10 MPs so far. This falls well short of the nominations required, but more would be likely to back her as a means to oust Sir Keir. However, her move is intended to spur a potential leadership hopeful from the Cabinet into action.

Written nominations would need to be submitted to Labour general secretary Hollie Ridley, which would then trigger the contest.

In the case of a successful challenge, Sir Keir would be on the ballot by default as the incumbent and would not need to gather nominations. But if Sir Keir were to resign, it would automatically start a contest for a new leader.

It is up to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee to set the timeline for a leadership election.

In 40 years of campaigning, I have never known a Labour leader’s name come up on the doorstep in the way the prime minster’s did at these elections – the damage he is doing to our special party is unforgivable, says Labour MP Kate Osborne:

A leading Labour-affiliated trade union has called for an independent commission into electoral reform amid support for proportional representation at elections.

The annual conference of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) agreed a motion rejecting the first past the post system (FPTP).

Supporters of electoral reform said the decision by delegates at the conference in Bournemouth marked a “historic shift” for the union, which becomes the eighth Labour-affiliated union to make electoral reform its official policy.

The motion said first past the post was producing unrepresentative results and was at crisis point.

Ed Baldwin, a CWU regional political officer, told delegates: “First past the post no longer reflects those we represent and is producing results that do not match the will of the people.

“The Labour Government has already accepted it is broken by scrapping it for mayoral elections. If it distorts democracy there, then it distorts democracy at Westminster too.”

Reform UK is facing intense scrutiny and accusations of failing to “call out clear racism” after its deputy leader declined to explicitly condemn remarks reportedly made by a newly elected councillor.

Glenn Gibbins, who was elected as a Reform councillor in Sunderland in this week’s local elections, posted on social media in 2024, complaining about the “amount of Nigerians in town”.

“Should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!!” he wrote in a later-deleted post, according to campaign group Hope Not Hate.

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice refused to directly criticise Mr Gibbins on Sunday, instead accusing the media of “smearing” Nigel Farage’s party.

More politicians need to “say it like it is” to try to combat the rise of Nigel Farage and Reform, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The former SNP leader said that Reform – who are now the joint second largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 17 MSPs – had not done as well in the Holyrood election as she had “feared” they might.

Speaking about the party, led in Scotland by Lord Malcolm Offord, Ms Sturgeon said: “They did not perform as strongly as many people, including me, feared they would on Thursday.”

However she added her “fear” is that the new group of Reform MSPs could be will “try to undermine” the Scottish Parliament and “try to be disruptive and just drag politics down”.

The former SNP leader, speaking at the Boswell Book Festival, also criticised the “inability of many politicians” on what is “broadly the left of politics” to answer “straightforward questions in a straightforward way”.