UK's Starmer vows to fight on, calls govt a ‘10-year project’ after election setback

Starmer's Labour Party recorded the worst losses of a governing party in local elections in more than three decades

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to fight on and said his government was a "10-year project" despite calls to quit after his party's drubbing in local elections earlier this week.

The local and regional elections were widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left Labour Party to power less than two years ago. (REUTERS)

Starmer's Labour Party recorded the worst losses of a governing party in local elections in more than three decades, prompting a growing number of lawmakers to call for his removal.

A former minister in Starmer's government said she would seek the backing of other lawmakers to trigger a leadership contest unless his cabinet took steps to remove him by Monday.

Asked by the Observer newspaper in an interview published on Sunday whether he would lead his Labour Party into the next general election and serve a full second term, Starmer responded: "Yes, I will."

He added: I'm not going to walk away from the job I was elected to do in July 2024. I’m not going to plunge the country into chaos."

If Starmer is removed in the coming weeks, Britain would end up with its seventh prime minister in the past decade.

‘A real kicking’

So far, Starmer's cabinet has stayed loyal to the prime minister, despite Thursday's election losses.

Bridget Phillipson, the education minister, said she was confident the prime minister could turn things around, telling Sky News on Sunday that Starmer would set out a "fresh direction" for Britain in a speech on Monday.

"We got a real kicking from the voters, there’s no escaping that," she said of Labour's performance in the elections. "We have to reflect seriously on that."

Catherine West, who served as a junior foreign minister until Starmer sacked her last year, said she would listen to Starmer's speech on Monday before making a final decision about whether to seek the backing of the 81 members of parliament needed to trigger a leadership contest.

Asked on Sunday if she was likely to get the numbers, West told the BBC: "We will find out".

Starmer must call Britain's next national election by 2029 at the latest.

If he were still in office at the end of a second five-year term, he would be the third-longest-serving continuous leader in Britain in the last two centuries after Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.