Starmer vows to stay amid growing calls to resign

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his Cabinet he has no intention of stepping down despite coming under increasing internal pressure following last week's hugely disappointing local election results for the ruling Labour Party.

Three junior ministers have resigned from the government as of press time and they called for a change in leadership, but no candidate has yet come forward to challenge Starmer directly.

Earlier on Tuesday, the BBC reported that 78 of Labour's 403 members of parliament had called on him to go, with some senior ministers reported to be among them, but his message to the Cabinet was defiant.

"As I said yesterday, I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised," he reportedly told them.

He went on to call the previous 48 hours "destabilizing for government", having an economic impact on the lives of voters, and added, "The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered.

"The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet." Writing on X, Housing Secretary Steve Reed gave Starmer his backing, repeating the point about voters paying the price for party infighting.

"This instability has consequences for people's lives," he said.

"The people who will be hurt most will be those that elected us less than two years ago. We must unite behind the prime minister."

Starmer gave a speech to Labour MPs on Monday where he hoped to regain control of the situation, but a statement from one of the new 2024 election intakes, Paul Foster, said this had not succeeded.

Rebuilding confidence

"Unfortunately, after much reflection, the prime minister's speech yesterday did little to reassure me that he has the vision needed to reconnect with the country and rebuild public confidence under his leadership," he said.

"It pains me to say this because I am a loyal person by nature, and I do not come to this conclusion lightly. But it is with great regret that I believe the party now needs a change of direction and, ultimately, a new leader."

If Starmer were to leave his post, it would not automatically trigger a general election as the Labour Party has a large majority in parliament, but it would continue a decade-long pattern of leadership change at the top of British government, with previous Conservative Party prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss all having been replaced midterm, for differing reasons, and only Rishi Sunak leaving office after a general election defeat.

Agencies contributed to this story.