Keir Starmer defies calls to quit after heavy Labour council losses

{"text":[[{"start":9.75,"text":"Sir Keir Starmer has refused to quit after a disastrous night for Labour at the polls, insisting: “I’m not going to walk away . . . and plunge the country into chaos.”"}],[{"start":19.8,"text":"With the first results in, Labour is heading for the worst local election results by any party this century. "}],[{"start":26.6,"text":"The prime minister accepted responsibility as Reform UK surged to victories across England but delivered a defiant message to his Labour critics and potential leadership challengers."}],[{"start":38.2,"text":"Speaking in Ealing, west London, on Friday morning, Starmer said: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it.” "}],[{"start":47.95,"text":"He said he would lead Labour into the next general election, adding that voters wanted him to deliver improvements to their lives much more quickly."}],[{"start":56.25,"text":"He admitted that he had made “unnecessary mistakes”, a likely reference to the withdrawal of winter fuel payments from pensioners and the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US."}],[{"start":68,"text":"Although most results from elections in English councils and Scottish and Welsh parliaments will not arrive until Friday afternoon, early results suggested Labour was set to lose more than two-thirds of its council seats."}],[{"start":79.85,"text":"On a day that could herald a redrawing of Britain’s political map, Labour had lost about 200 seats and control of eight councils, heaping more pressure on the embattled prime minister."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":90.19999999999999,"text":"Labour lost seats across the country and surrendered control of councils in Hartlepool, Tameside, Redditch and Tamworth as well as in Wandsworth. Reform made net gains of more than 250 seats."}],[{"start":103.24999999999999,"text":"Jon Tonge, a politics professor at Liverpool university, said: “Labour is looking at the worst local election performance this century.”"}],[{"start":110.99999999999999,"text":"With most results due to be declared during the course of Friday, the question facing Downing Street is whether Labour frustration and despair over Starmer’s leadership harden into a push to remove him."}],[{"start":121.74999999999999,"text":"Defence secretary John Healey said that Starmer needed to be “bolder” to turn things around but added: “At this time of great uncertainty, people expect their government and prime minister to be getting on with the job, not have a party turning in on itself and arguing amongst itself.”"}],[{"start":138.25,"text":"Labour MP Jonathan Brash, whose wife Pamela Hargreaves, leader of Hartlepool council, lost her seat, called for Starmer to go. But there was some relief in Number 10 that by 8am there had not been more Labour MPs calling for a change in leadership."}],[{"start":153.65,"text":"Number 10 will be watching potential leadership rivals closely to see whether they start to mobilise. Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor, Angela Rayner, former deputy prime minister, and Wes Streeting, health secretary, had kept their counsel by breakfast time on Friday."}],[{"start":169.55,"text":"Allies of Ed Miliband, energy secretary, said they did not “accept” a report in the Times that he had urged Starmer to consider setting a timetable for his departure. Starmer said on Friday: “Ed Miliband has dealt with this and made it absolutely clear that he supports me.”"}],[{"start":186.55,"text":"In a sign that bond investors believe the results so far were not as calamitous for Starmer as feared, the yield on the 10-year gilt was down 0.05 percentage points at 4.89 per cent, outperforming other European markets. The pound was up 0.5 per cent at $1.362."}],[{"start":206.60000000000002,"text":"The response of cabinet ministers and Labour MPs would be key for the gilt market, Deutsche Bank analysts said, with investors watching for any move to oust Starmer."}],[{"start":216.40000000000003,"text":"Investors had been fearful that a successor to Starmer would shift the party to the left, leading to higher spending and government borrowing costs."}],[{"start":224.60000000000002,"text":"The pain for Labour will intensify when results in parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales are announced later — the SNP and Plaid Cymru are expected to secure strong pro-independence results in their respective countries. "}],[{"start":239.15000000000003,"text":"Labour losses in English councils, where about 5,000 seats are up for grabs, are expected to continue to accumulate. Losses of between 1,500 and 2,000 seats have been predicted in the 136 council areas holding elections."}],[{"start":253.50000000000003,"text":"Across England, Reform made gains against the Conservatives in places including Brentwood, Tamworth and North East Lincolnshire, with Kemi Badenoch’s party also recording losses on a similar scale to Labour."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":267.6,"text":"The elections brought advances for the Liberal Democrats, heading for their eighth successive year of local poll gains, and the Greens, who hope to make inroads against Labour in inner-city areas of London."}],[{"start":279.55,"text":"Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant told the BBC it was “gutting when you lose seats in the kind of numbers that we are at the moment”."}],[{"start":286.8,"text":"Additional reporting by Ian Smith"}],[{"start":298.70000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778234218_4631.mp3"}