Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves after casting his vote in local elections at a polling station in Westminster Chapel, London on May 7, 2026.
JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
The British prime minister is struggling to prove that he is capable of building on the disastrous local election results.
Keir Starmer was banking on a speech this morning, May 11th, to settle concerns within Labour about the ability of his premiership to continue after last week’s local elections losses.
But just minutes after it finished, Labour MP David Smith became the 44th backbencher to demand the prime minister’s resignation, insisting that “we cannot carry on with the approach we have taken in the first two years of this Labour Government.”
Other Labour MPs renewed their calls for Starmer to step down. The unions have also maintained their attacks, with one official, Maryam Eslamdoust, complaining that the prime minister’s speech did not contain “a single serious answer … for people struggling through the cost of living crisis.” Eslamdoust warns:
Either we change leader and direction now and begin rebuilding trust, or we sink with this failing project.
Labour lost more than 1,000 council seats across England, mostly to Nigel Farage’s Reform. It also performed terribly in Scottish and Welsh regional elections.
Starmer said in his speech that Brexit has “held young people back” and insisted Labour is “on the side of working people” and for “making Britain stronger”—including, he says, by nationalising British Steel.
Former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries, who now represents Reform, dismissed all this as nothing more than the “same robotic lines,” the “same empty slogans, and the “same meaningless waffle.”
His leadership is in tatters and he still thinks people want a lecture from a HR manager.
Journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who is in a relationship with Reform deputy leader Richard Tice, also criticised Starmer for failing to “acknowledge the devastating impact of mass uncontrolled immigration on our country,” adding: “That is why, sooner or later, he and his party will be BOOTED out.”
Reports say that Health Secretary Wes Streeting is preparing a leadership campaign in case Starmer is forced to resign.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
