Pressure mounts on PM to resign following brutal election wipeout - as defiant Sir Keir calls for 'unity'

At least 30 Labour MPs so far have broken ranks to call for Sir Keir to resign following a disastrous night for the party which saw it lose control of 37 local authorities and 1,300 councillors.

Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, said Labour faced an "existential crisis" and called on the party to elect a new leader before the end of the year.

"There is a real danger we may never recover," he warned.

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"The party should now work towards a timetable for an orderly transition to a new leader by the end of this year. Our party will only get one chance to get this right. We cannot become like the Tories, lurching from leader to leader."

Veteran Labour MP Clive Betts said the Cabinet should make it clear to Sir Keir Starmer he has to go “in the not too distant future”.

The public had “stopped listening” to the Prime Minister, the MP for Sheffield South East said, adding: “I think there’s now a responsibility on the Cabinet to talk to Keir and to recognise, as they obviously are picking up on the doorstep, that this can’t carry on forever."

Labour MP Catherine McKinnell stopped short of explicitly calling on Sir Keir to resign, but said the party must "urgently change", as she said the public voted on "national issues".

In a post on X, the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North said: "Too many fantastic councillors in our region, some who have given years of service, have lost their seats.

"I am aware that despite this being a local election, decisions on the ballot paper were made due to national issues.

"The Greens and Reform have fought divisive campaigns, and offer no real solutions to challenges the country faces, but have spoken to the anxiety that many people face that have not been addressed by the lack of compelling vision from the Government."

Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told LBC said what is “abundantly clear is that unless the Government delivers significant and urgent change, then the Prime Minister cannot lead us into another election”.

Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, who has been floated as a potential leader successor to the PM, said the results were "devastating" but threw his support behind Sir Keir.

"Voters are making clear their anger at a broken economic and political status quo," he wrote on X.

"As Keir has said, we must go further in delivering the mandate for change that Labour won in 2024 - and show how we will answer to call for change in our country."

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Chancellor Rachel Reeves similarly rallied around the Labour leader, stating his “mandate” must be delivered, while Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said reversing Labour’s fortunes would require “a collective effort, not just blaming the boss”.

Environment secretary Emma Reynolds told LBC the Government "needed to reflect" on the election results but insisted it was "not the right time" for the Prime Minister to resign.

The Conservatives had "tested to destruction the idea that you chop and change your leader every five minutes," Ms Reynolds told Matthew Wright.

Asked about the PM's unpopularity on the doorstep, she insisted that "no leader is universally popular. I also met people on the doorstep who don't like Nigel Farage, but obviously they've had some good results.

"But it is right that the Prime Minister, who was elected on a mandate of change, a five year parliament, delivers that change, but steps up and delivers that more quickly."

However Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said Labour faced “oblivion” and “what must change is not just the leader but the entire approach: only a Labour Government which always puts the interests of workers before the wealthy can succeed.”

Unite leader Sharon Graham said it is a case of “change or die” and that the “writing is on the wall” for Sir Keir’s Government, with the party “finished” if it does not “shift decisively towards the working class.”

Labour-affiliated unions have issued a joint call demanding a meeting with the Prime Minister and party leadership “to discuss the urgent change in direction that we all know is needed”.

Tulo (Trade Union and Labour Organisation) said in a statement: “The stakes are too high to continue on this path.”

Plaid Cymru is now the biggest party in the Welsh Parliament, with First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her own seat, while SNP leader John Swinney said his party has "won emphatically" in the Scottish Parliament - although the party fell short of winning an overall majority.

Sir Keir Starmer admitted the results were "tough" but wanted the party against lurching to the left or the right.

Writing in the Guardian, he said: "These were very tough election results. It hurts to lose brilliant candidates and local leaders....friends and colleagues who represent the best of the Labour party.

"I take responsibility for that and feel it very deeply. It is right we reflect and learn the right lessons.

However he said the results "don’t mean tacking right or left. They mean bringing together a broad political movement, being assertive about our values, and bold in our vision. Unifying rather than dividing. That is the right approach for our party and, more importantly, it is the right approach for our country."