It was predicted that Labour would lose seats and councils in Thursday’s local elections, but the results have delivered a verdict even more damning than expected.
This will only add to the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer – who has said today that the results “hurt” and that he will take responsibility. But should he resign? Our experts give their perspective.
Adam Boulton: The leadership alternatives would all be worse
When threatened by a grizzly bear, the experts say do not run away: stay stock still in the hope that it lumbers past. Labour has undergone a terrible mauling in this year’s local and national elections, but my advice to the Prime Minister is to stay where he is and do nothing dramatic – in the interests of the country.
For the simple reason that the eager alternatives – Ange, Andy, Wes and Ed would all be worse. To please the “soft left” they would be sucked into the party-pleasing vortex of more unaffordable spending mainly on welfare and even less firm government.
I doubt Sir Keir will take my advice. On past form he’ll look for scapegoats, and soon chuck competent New Labour ministers out of his cabinet, weakening his government further or fall into Ed Miliband’s trap of announcing a distant date for departure in the fond belief that he’ll last that long.
Adam Boulton presents Sunday Morning on Times Radio; he was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News
Zoë Grünewald: Starmer must plan his orderly exit, and let his party regroup
When Jeremy Corbyn clung to the Labour leadership despite a parliamentary no-confidence vote, a generation of Labour MPs, among them Keir Starmer, were appalled. Fast forward to 2026, and the Prime Minister’s declaration that he will “not walk away” as the party bleeds councillors feels uncomfortably familiar.
The local election results were unambiguous: Reform has swallowed Labour’s heartlands, swathes of councillors have been wiped out, and the historic majority of 2024 has turned into national contempt. Even his own loyalists privately concede he was a liability on the doorstep.
Starmer pledged to be different, from Corbyn, from Johnson, from Truss, from the whole catalogue of leaders who put ego before party and country. And while he says he takes full responsibility, a leader with a -45 approval rating does not get to define what responsibility looks like. Saying the words is not the same as acting on them.
The consensus inside the party is already hardening that this man cannot lead Labour into the next election. Starmer must plan his orderly exit, and let his party regroup – once again – without him.
Zoë Grünewald is a journalist, broadcaster and political commentator
Hugo Gye: Britain is in crisis and needs stability
In case you had any doubt, Labour is very unpopular and Reform UK is on the rise – the Greens, too.The results of the local elections confirm these basic facts. Sir Keir Starmer bears a great deal of the responsibility for his party’s dire position.
But for the Prime Minister to step down at this point and hand over to a novice, with Labour in crisis and Britain in turmoil, would be the wrong course of action.
It would be out of character as well: Starmer is stubborn to a fault, and his political career shows him to be a man who likes a fight more than his buttoned-down image might suggest. He will surely seek to stay in No 10 as long as he can.
Can Labour recover under his leadership? The evidence suggests quite possibly not. But if he is to leave before the next general election, the party should engineer a smooth transition after a long period of serious reflection – not echo the chaotic panic of the Conservatives’ leadership merry-go-round.
Hugo Gye is The i Paper’s political editor
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Starmer is our Joe Biden
Even when humiliated, Keir Starmer sounds haughty, his words tinny, unconvincing. “They are very tough and there’s no sugar coating it… that hurts and should hurt and I take full responsibility.” To him I say, it hurts us far more than it does you.
He chased Reform voters and disdained Labour’s loyal voters. His advisers pushed that strategy. Look what happened. These results will, I believe, convince him that his destiny is to be PM. That he is being tested by fate.
Since he took office, our country has become more fragmented. That won’t change. He is our Joe Biden. Overweening, hopeless, convinced of his own greatness, morally unsound and so blindingly arrogant, he cannot see the harm he has done. He’s got to go.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a columnist at The i Paper
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