Starmer’s speech ‘too little, too late’, says Catherine West, and urges Labour MPs to back calls for him to quit
Here is the full statement from Catherine West, the former minister who on Saturday announced that, if a cabinet minister did not come forward to challenge Keir Starmer for the leadership, she would do it herself.
I have listened to the prime minister’s speech this morning. I welcome the renewed energy and ideas. However, I have reluctantly concluded that this morning’s speech was too little too late.
The results last Thursday show that the prime minister has failed to inspire hope.
What is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition.
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.
I want to thank everyone who has been in contact over the weekend to offer good wishes. We need our best top team in place to fight the next election. We owe working people up and down the country nothing less.
West is no longer – at least, in this statement – proposing to stand herself. There is a mechanism for a Labour MP with the support of 80 colleagues to be a leadership candidate.
But there is no threshold in Labour party rules for the number of signatures required to force the PM to set out a timetable for his departure.
West seems to be hoping that, if enough Labour MPs back her call, Starmer will eventually shift – or an alternative candidate, capable of getting the 80 names, may come forward.
Key events
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Rayner says Burnham should be allowed to be Labour byelection candidate so he can return to parliament
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Rayner says people turning ‘to populists and nationalists’ because Labour not fixing cost of living problems
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Rayner tells CWU it’s clear what Labour government is doing ‘isn’t working’
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Angela Rayner addresses CWU conference
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Starmer’s speech – verdict from commentariat
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Starmer’s speech ‘too little, too late’, says Catherine West, and urges Labour MPs to back calls for him to quit
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Catherine West reportedly set to press ahead with call for Starmer to set timetable for resignation
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Labour MP David Smith joins those saying Starmer should set departure date, saying Labour must ‘act faster, and be more radical’
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Starmer says constant leadership changes under Tories ‘inflicted huge damage on this country’
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Starmer refuses to rule out including plan to join EU’S single market or customs union in Labour’s next manifesto
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Starmer says he will fight any challenge to his leadership
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Starmer insists he can prove his doubters wrong
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Starmer says ‘chaos of constantly changing leaders’ under Tories was bad for UK, with working people paying price
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Starmer plays down prospect of Burnham being allowed by Labour to be byelection candidate
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Starmer says government will ban far-right agitators from travelling to UK for march planned for Saturday
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Starmer says he will set ‘new direction for Britain’ at next summit with EU
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Starmer attacks Farage’s record on Brexit, saying he is ‘not just a grifter, he’s a chancer’
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Starmer says government will bring forward legislation this week to nationalise British Steel
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Starmer says he needs to talk more about how Labour is acting on behalf of working people
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Starmer says ‘stories beat spreadsheets’ and ‘people need hope’
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Starmer says UK will go ‘down very dark path’ if Labour does not recover and get things right
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Kyle says Wes Streeting, his friend, not plotting to oust Starmer
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Kyle suggests Rayner, and other candidates, could put public finances in ‘peril’ with spending policies
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Kyle says it was Burnham himself who chose to leave Commons, as he rubbishes talk of Labour allowing swift return for mayor
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Starmer to propose stronger links with EU, as Peter Kyle claims significant change possible within Labour’s manifesto red lines
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Starmer to say ‘incremental change won’t cut it’ in major make-or-break speech to avert leadership challenge
Rayner says Burnham should be allowed to be Labour byelection candidate so he can return to parliament
Rayner says Andy Burnham should never have been blocked from being the byelection candidate in Gorton and Denton.
We as a party have to do better than this, and we can only prove we mean our Labour values by putting the common interests ahead of factionalism.
And we can start by accepting that Andy Burnham should never have been blocked.
It was a mistake that the leadership of our party should put right.
This was also something that Rayner said in her long statement issued last night; in fact, quite a lot of what she is saying was in that statement.
Rayner says people turning ‘to populists and nationalists’ because Labour not fixing cost of living problems
Rayner says people feel the system is rigged against them.
The cost of living is the top issue for voters of all parties.
People have turned to populists and nationalists because we have not done enough to fix it.
Living standards are barely higher than they were a decade and a half ago.
People feel … that the cost of living crisis will never end. And now they see the oil and gas companies using global instability to post record profits. And once again, working class people are paying the price for the decisions that they didn’t make.
It’s no wonder that across the UK people feel that the system is rigged against them.
The Labour party must now live up to its name. We must be the party for working people.
Rayner tells CWU it’s clear what Labour government is doing ‘isn’t working’
Rayner says what Labour is doing is not working.
As Dave [Ward] says, this has not been an easy moment. Our party has suffered historic defeats. Many good Labour colleagues have lost their seats. People who gave everything for their communities that they represented. A
And it’s clear that what we’re doing isn’t working, and it needs to change.
Angela Rayner addresses CWU conference
Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM, is about to address the CWU conference in Bourneouth.
She is being introduced by Dave Ward, the CWU general secrertary, who says Rayner did as much as anyone to push the Employment Rights Act through parliament.
He says she is a “strong working-class woman”.
Starmer’s speech – verdict from commentariat
This was billed as a make-or-break speech. By Keir Starmer’s standards, it was reasonably good. But it is always naive to believe that a person can transform into someone else overnight and anyone expecting Starmer to turn up this morning presenting as Barack Obama, or Nye Bevan, or FD Roosevelt – or even Andy Burnham – will obviously be disappointed.
In policy terms, Starmer failed to match the “incremental change won’t cut it” challenged that he set himself. (See 8.47am.) On Europe, there was just a refusal to rule out putting a line about joining the single market or a customs union in the next Labour manifesto. (See 11.02am.) The main announcement was about a steel plant that has already been under government control for about a year anyway. (See 10.28am.)
Some commentators believe that Starmer sounded marginally more open to Labour letting Burnham run as a byelection candidate than he had been in the past. He did not say no; just that it was up to the NEC (which he controls anyway.) But it did not sound like a big shift, or a sign that Starmer is going to green-light his return to the Commons soon.
Starmer was strongest arguing that another change of PM would be bad for Britain. (See 11.12am.) On this, he was at his most persuasive.
This is what other commentators are saying.
From Henry Zeffman, the BBC’s chief political correspondent
At points, Keir Starmer’s delivery recalled what most Labour MPs see as his most successful speech as prime minister, at the party’s conference last September.
In terms of substance, though, Starmer did not deliver the clear change of direction or policy-laden agenda that at least some of his MPs say they crave.
From Beth Rigby, Sky’s political editor
I think [Starmer] knew what he wanted to do and what he needed to do in terms of trying to inject a bit of passion into the job. But look, I think on the substance of it, there wasn’t really much in it. It was quite thin gruel.
From the BBC’s Iain Watson
I am not getting the sense that it’s been seen as a poor speech by MPs, just not transformational. “Delivery fine….but no real substance,” texted a former Labour official.
From ITV’s Paul Brand
On scale of 0-10, where 0 is Starmer’s worst performance and 10 is his best speech ever, I’d say that was somewhere around an 8 or 9.
He hasn’t set the world alight, but nobody thought he would – he was at the upper end of modest expectations.
Now over to Labour MPs for their verdict…
From the Guardian’s Peter Walker
In fairness this is a decent speech from Starmer. But I’m not sure there’s enough new in the content to save him. Nothing yet leaps out. It’s all a bit, ‘the same, but more passionately’.
The part on Brexit is interesting in the longer-term trend that we now have a Labour PM openly saying that Brexit made the UK poorer and less secure. But without any movement on those famous red lines on Europe, and it probably doesn’t mean much.
That speech was reasonably good by Starmer standards, but if he wanted *any* chance of saving his job, he needed a big old rabbit of a policy – a change to EU red lines; a nod towards electoral reform; a massive investment plan. This speech didn’t contain that.
From the Times’ Steven Swinford
The speech does not seem to have gone down particularly well with many Labour MPs, who were hoping for something more radical. The numbers calling on him to go continue to rise
From Politico’s Emilio Casalicchio
That Starmer speech felt a bit like he was launching a leadership challenge against his own leadership. Criticizing his time in government as too incremental and failing to grasp what people voted for in 2024, and criticizing his failure to offer a convincing narrative/vision
From Lewis Goodall from the News Agents
The move to guarantee survival today would have been to signal PM would be minded to allow Burnham to return if he wanted to. That would have bought time for a King’s speech, a seat to emerge, a by election fought which he might not win. As it is, lack of anything new means events likely to keep spiralling.
Starmer’s speech ‘too little, too late’, says Catherine West, and urges Labour MPs to back calls for him to quit
Here is the full statement from Catherine West, the former minister who on Saturday announced that, if a cabinet minister did not come forward to challenge Keir Starmer for the leadership, she would do it herself.
I have listened to the prime minister’s speech this morning. I welcome the renewed energy and ideas. However, I have reluctantly concluded that this morning’s speech was too little too late.
The results last Thursday show that the prime minister has failed to inspire hope.
What is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition.
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.
I want to thank everyone who has been in contact over the weekend to offer good wishes. We need our best top team in place to fight the next election. We owe working people up and down the country nothing less.
West is no longer – at least, in this statement – proposing to stand herself. There is a mechanism for a Labour MP with the support of 80 colleagues to be a leadership candidate.
But there is no threshold in Labour party rules for the number of signatures required to force the PM to set out a timetable for his departure.
West seems to be hoping that, if enough Labour MPs back her call, Starmer will eventually shift – or an alternative candidate, capable of getting the 80 names, may come forward.
Catherine West reportedly set to press ahead with call for Starmer to set timetable for resignation
This is from Ollie Cole at Times Radio.
Understand Catherine West will go ahead with a letter to Labour MPs later today – but stopping short of stating her candidacy.
Will instead canvas support for a timetable for the PM to stand down and allow a transition.
According to Sky News, there are now 36 Labour MPs who have publicly called for Keir Starmer to stand down.
Labour MP David Smith joins those saying Starmer should set departure date, saying Labour must ‘act faster, and be more radical’
David Smith, the Labour MP for North Northumberland, was not impressed by Keir Starmer’s speech. As soon as it was over, he put issued a statement on social media saying that Starmer should set a timetable for his departure and that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.
North Northumberland is a new constituency that is mostly made up of the old Berwick-upon-Tweed seat, which the Tories won in 2019 with a majority of almost 15,000.
Starmer says constant leadership changes under Tories ‘inflicted huge damage on this country’
Q: [From Jack Elsom from the Sun] When you spoke to Angela Rayner, did she rule out launching a leadership challenge against you? And do you think there would have to be an election if Labour elected a new leader?
Starmer said he would not discuss his conversations with Rayner.
And, on an election, Starmer said:
On this question of chaos, look, the question whether if a government constantly changes its leadership, the question whether that damages the country is not an academic question, it’s not something that you study at university and go through various theories. We tested it. We tested it to destruction under the last government and inflicted huge damage on this country.
A Labour government will never be forgiven if we repeat that and inflict that on the country.
And that’s what I mean when I say I’m not going to plunge this country into chaos.
Q: [From Sophie Huskisson from the Mirror] Have you spoken to Anas Sarwar and Eluned Morgan since the elections? And do you agree with Angela Rayner that this is Labour’s last chance to turn things round?
Starmer said he had spoken to Sarwar and Morgan.
And he said he had spoken to Rayner, so he knew exactly what her thinking was.
Q: [From Aubrey Allegretti from the Times] Do you agree with what Peter Kyle said this morning about how a byelection for Andy Burnham, and a mayoral election in Greater Manchester, would be a distraction of Labour. Could Labour afford to let them go ahead?
Starmer said he had already answered a question about this.
Now, the first person I worked for when I came to Parliament was Andy. He wanted me and his team in the shadow Home Office. I wanted to be in his team in the shadow Home Office. So we work very well together. We’ll continue to work very well together. If the issue arises, it’ll be a matter for the NEC [Labour’s national executive committee] to decide.
Starmer refuses to rule out including plan to join EU’S single market or customs union in Labour’s next manifesto
Q: [From the FT’s Jim Pickard] If you stick to your manifesto red lines on the single market and the customs union, you won’t be able to take the UK to the heart of Europe. Would you rule out single market or customs union membership in Labour’s next manifesto.
Starmer said he would be pushing for “a big leap forward” in relations with the EU at the summit coming later this year.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
What I want to do is take a big leap forward with the EU-UK summit this year and take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence and security.
And that will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.
And as we do that, I strongly believe we’ve got to turn our back on the arguments of the past, not open old grievances, but look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fairer.
And so that’s the approach that I will take.
Starmer says he will fight any challenge to his leadership
Q: [From the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar] If someone launches a leadership challenge against you, will you fight it? And do you think Britain is now ungovernable?
Starmer said yes, and no.
On the first question, he won’t walk away from a challenge, he said
And, on whether Britain is becoming ungovernable, he said:
I don’t think Britain is ungovernable. On the contrary, one of the things that I draw great strength from is [the] millions of people who care passionately about their place, their community, where they live, where they are the millions of people who give hours and hours and hours at that time for that community, volunteering, helping others, running teams, you name it. That is a great strength of our country.
I draw strength from the fact that we are a reasonable, tolerant, decent country, a live and let live country, a diverse country that is the real Britain. That’s not an ungovernable Britain. That is the Britain that I will fight for, particularly in light of the opponents.
Q: [From Katherine Forster from GB News] Many working class people voted for Brexit. So why are you promising them more Europe?
Starmer said it was important to explain that the promises made at the time of Brexit have not been kept.
The reason I reminded everyone what Nigel Farage said is because that was the promise he put to the country, that we’d be stronger, we’d be richer, we’d have lots of money for the NHS, immigration would come down and it all proved to be false.
And he doesn’t take any responsibility.
He’s not going back to the country now saying it was a good thing you’ve all benefited. He’ll talk about almost anything else apart from the consequences of the one thing that he delivered for the country, Brexit.
Starmer insists he can prove his doubters wrong
ITV’s Robert Peston went next. He said he had spent the weekend speaking to Labour MPs and ministers and most of them said he was no longer the best person for the job.
Labour supports in the room protested. And Starmer himself said “no, no no”.
Peston went on to ask why people should believe he could deliver more than incremental change.
Starmer said he would prove his doubters wrong.
I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including my own party.
And I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong. And I will.
I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party. I had my doubters who said we couldn’t change this party and make it capable of winning an election. And I proved them wrong.
Starmer says ‘chaos of constantly changing leaders’ under Tories was bad for UK, with working people paying price
Q: [From Sky’s Beth Rigby] Have you considered standing down since the election results, and if not, why not?
Starmer said “the chaos of constantly changing leaders” under the Tories cost the country a “huge amount”. Working people paid the price, he said. He went on:
Yes, I acknowledge the frustration. Yes, I acknowledge the results are tough. Yes, I acknowledge that we’ve lost brilliant representatives across the United Kingdom. I have a responsibility for that.
But I also have a responsibility to deliver the change that we were elected and that we promised this country, and I’ll deliver on that.
Starmer plays down prospect of Burnham being allowed by Labour to be byelection candidate
After the speech, Starmer took questions.
Q: [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] Will this speech be enough to get Labour MPs to back you? And will you continue to block Andy Burnham returning to the Commons.
Starmer said this is not the first time the UK has faced challenges. He repeated the point about wanting to change the status quo.
On Burnham, he said:
In relation to Andy Burnham, obviously, any future decision is for the NEC and he’s doing a great job as mayor in Manchester and I actually work really well with Andy.
(That was not a no, but it sounded as if Starmer was certainly not keen on letting Burnham fight a byelection.)
Starmer gave two examples of this: Northern Powerhouse Rail, and the response to the Manchester syngague attack.
Starmer says government will ban far-right agitators from travelling to UK for march planned for Saturday
Starmer ended his speech by saying the government would ban “far-right agitators from travelling to Britain” for a march planned for this Saturday by the far right.