A party fracturing
The number of Labour MPs calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign has passed 30 following the disastrous local elections for his party.
Things came to a head yesterday as Labour were the big losers of the local elections which, incredibly are yet to be fully done as five councils are still to declare.
Disastrous local elections for Labour
As things stand, 131 out of 136 councils have declared so we can give an almost full round-up of results.
The final five councils are set to declare around 4pm, as per Sky News.
However, here are how things stand after 48 hours of scintillating suffrage.
Conservative: 773 (down 557)
Residents’ Association: 36 (down 31)
Conservatives: 9 (down 6)
No Overall Control (NOC): 61 (up 22)
Labour have seen almost 1,500 councillors wiped off the map and have lost control of 35 councils.
This, coupled with the recent Mandelson affair and the Autumn Budget which left many disgruntled has led to Starmer being crowned the unwanted honour the ‘most unpopular PM of all time’.
While this may be slightly harsh on Starmer – seeing that most PMs rarely win popularity contests – this discontent is appearing to spread amongst his own party.
Labour suffered huge losses in the local elections. Credit: Getty.
As of this morning, there are now more than 30 Labour MPs who are calling on Starmer to resign – about eight per cent of their incumbent MPs in Commons.
Labour List keeps track of all the Labour MPs and their position towards the leader of their party.
As per the site, 32 Labour MPs have called for Starmer’s resignation or timetable of departure.
Full list of Labour MPs calling for Starmer to resign
Over 30 MPs have called, in varying degrees, for a change of leadership, directions or timetabling of Starmer’s departure.
The full list of MPs is below.
David Baines (St Helens North)
Paula Barker (Liverpool Wavertree)
Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse)
Clive Betts (Sheffield South East)
Olivia Blake (Sheffield Hallam)
Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool)
Richard Burgon (Leeds East)
Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby)
Beccy Cooper (Worthing West)
Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole)
Barry Gardiner (Brent West)
Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley)
Chris Hinchliff (North East Hertfordshire)
Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside)
Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islywn)
Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington)
Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth)
Clive Lewis (Norwich South)
Rachael Maskell (York Central)
Andy McDonald (Middlesborough and Thornaby East)
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington)
Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley)
Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central)
Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich)
Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Middleton South)
Jon Trickett (Normanton and Hemsworth)
Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East)
Labour List’s site goes into detail about what each MP said about the PM here.
A resolute stance
Despite a number of unhappy MPs voicing their concern, the party leadership continues to be resolute in the face of such calls.
Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “Thinking that setting out some kind of timetable would put to bed the issues of leadership, I think is actually the wrong conclusion here.
“Because all that would do is fire the starting gun of a, quite honestly, very distracting and ongoing debate about leadership.”
While the PM himself wrote in the Guardian: “While we must respond to the message that voters have sent us, that doesn’t mean tacking right or left.
“It means bringing together a broad political movement, being assertive about our values, bold in our vision and addressing people’s demands.
“Unifying rather than dividing. That is the right approach for our party and, more importantly, it is the right approach for our country.”
Starmer has also just appointed Labour veterans Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as advisers this morning (9 May).
The PM is set to address the nation on Monday.
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