Al Jazeera reports: He pointed to reductions in NHS waiting lists, child poverty and immigration, saying that “the fundamentals are sound”.“We’re not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents,” he said, adding: “We’re battling Reform and the Greens, but at a deeper level, we’re battling the despair on which they prey. Despair that they exploit and amplify.”He said that neither Reform UK’s Nigel Farage nor the Greens’ Zack Polanksi “offer the serious, progressive leadership that these times demand”.Starmer described Labour as “a mainstream party of power, not protest”, and said the government would introduce legislation to take ownership of British Steel and be defined by rebuilding the UK’s relationship with Europe.
She said she would email her colleagues for the necessary support on Monday if no one else put themselves forward. Advertisement Following Starmer’s speech, the former junior minister said the address was “too little, too late”.“What is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition,” she said. “I am hereby giving notice to No 10 that I am collecting names of Labour MPs to call on the prime minister to set a timetable for the election of a new leader in September.”More than 30 Labour MPs have said Starmer should resign or set out a timetable for his departure, including his former ally Josh Simons, who wrote in The Times that Starmer had “lost the country”.Labour MP David Smith released a statement shortly after his speech saying he believed it was “now the time” for Starmer to “set a clear timetable for his departure”.
Background
The North Northumberland MP called for a return to being a party of the working class and for Labour to “be more radical” in its solutions.Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said voters had sent Starmer a clear message. Labour failed to sustain ‘public’s trust’In an op-ed in The Guardian on Friday, Starmer noted that while it was important to respond to the message voters sent, “that doesn’t mean tacking right or left”. Advertisement Starmer appointed former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former deputy Labour leader Baroness Harman to key government positions on Saturday in what is seen as a bid to shore up support.A leadership contest requires the endorsement of 81 Labour MPs.
What this means
Potential challengers to the leadership include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.Starmer’s government has been in power since 2024, when it ended 14 years of Conservative rule in a landslide victory. His popularity has since fallen, with the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance amid a cost-of-living crisis and the scandal over United States Ambassador Peter Mendelson’s links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contributing to the decline.During this time, support has grown for right-wing Reform UK, and the Green Party under progressive Polanski, who has been vocal in his criticism of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Originally reported by Al Jazeera. This story has been edited and re-presented by BRIC Team.
