Starmer Says He Won’t Resign After Labour Election Failures

Keir Starmer has insisted he will “not walk away” from 10 Downing Street despite Labour suffering catastrophic losses in the local elections.

The prime minister said he “takes responsibility” for his party’s performance, which has left them on track to lose around 1,200 councillors across England following a surge in support for Reform UK.

Labour is also expected to have been heavily defeated in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd elections when results start coming through later on Friday.

By 9am, Labour had lost more than 250 councillors, and lose control of local authorities in their traditional heartlands.

Asked if he would resign, the prime minister said: “The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved.

“I was elected to meet those challenges but I’m not going to walk away from those challenges.”

Speaking in London, where Labour also lost control of Westminster and Wandsworth councils, Starmer said: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it.

“We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.

“And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.

“When voters send a message like this we must reflect and we must respond.

“I think the vast majority of people do understand that we face huge challenges as a country.

“We’ve had a series of economic shocks in recent years and there’s a very difficult international situation at present, they know that.

“But they still want their lives to improve, they still want to see the change that we promised, they know the status quo is letting them down and they’re frustrated, they don’t feel the changes.”

He added: “We’ve made some big calls, to stabilise our public finances, to invest in our public services, not to get dragged into a war in Iran.

“But we’ve also made unnecessary mistakes, one of which was that although we were right to level with the public about the scale and depth of the challenges we face, we didn’t do enough to convince them that things will get better, that things will improve, the hope.

“And that is why in the coming days I’m going to set out the steps that we will take to deliver the change that they want and that they deserve.”

The PM went on: “These are tough results but tough days like this, they don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised at the general election, they strengthen my resolve to do so.”

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