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.
double quotation markI 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.
Updated at 07.20 EDT
Key events
20m ago
Curtis says new Labour leader should be elected well before September, which is timetable proposed by West
42m ago
Labour MP Chris Curtis says Starmer should stand down
55m ago
Rayner tells CWU she was ‘born in Stockport, but raised in trade union movement’
1h ago
Rayner says Burnham should be allowed to be Labour byelection candidate so he can return to parliament
1h ago
Rayner says people turning ‘to populists and nationalists’ because Labour not fixing cost of living problems
1h ago
Rayner tells CWU it’s clear what Labour government is doing ‘isn’t working’
1h ago
Angela Rayner addresses CWU conference
1h ago
Starmer’s speech – verdict from commentariat
1h ago
Starmer’s speech ‘too little, too late’, says Catherine West, and urges Labour MPs to back calls for him to quit
2h ago
Catherine West reportedly set to press ahead with call for Starmer to set timetable for resignation
2h ago
Labour MP David Smith joins those saying Starmer should set departure date, saying Labour must ‘act faster, and be more radical’
2h ago
Starmer says constant leadership changes under Tories ‘inflicted huge damage on this country’
3h ago
Starmer refuses to rule out including plan to join EU’S single market or customs union in Labour’s next manifesto
3h ago
Starmer says he will fight any challenge to his leadership
3h ago
Starmer insists he can prove his doubters wrong
3h ago
Starmer says ‘chaos of constantly changing leaders’ under Tories was bad for UK, with working people paying price
3h ago
Starmer plays down prospect of Burnham being allowed by Labour to be byelection candidate
3h ago
Starmer says government will ban far-right agitators from travelling to UK for march planned for Saturday
3h ago
Starmer says he will set ‘new direction for Britain’ at next summit with EU
3h ago
Starmer attacks Farage’s record on Brexit, saying he is ‘not just a grifter, he’s a chancer’
3h ago
Starmer says government will bring forward legislation this week to nationalise British Steel
3h ago
Starmer says he needs to talk more about how Labour is acting on behalf of working people
3h ago
Starmer says ‘stories beat spreadsheets’ and ‘people need hope’
3h ago
Starmer says UK will go ‘down very dark path’ if Labour does not recover and get things right
4h ago
Kyle says Wes Streeting, his friend, not plotting to oust Starmer
4h ago
Kyle suggests Rayner, and other candidates, could put public finances in ‘peril’ with spending policies
4h ago
Kyle says it was Burnham himself who chose to leave Commons, as he rubbishes talk of Labour allowing swift return for mayor
5h ago
Starmer to propose stronger links with EU, as Peter Kyle claims significant change possible within Labour’s manifesto red lines
5h ago
Starmer to say ‘incremental change won’t cut it’ in major make-or-break speech to avert leadership challenge
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Kemi Badenoch has claimed (implausibly) that she takes no pleasure in seeing Keir Starmer in difficulties. In a post on social media, she said:
double quotation markKeir Starmer’s speech was sad to watch. With so many resets, even his reset button needs a reset.
But I do not take pleasure in watching the Prime Minister flounder. The country needs leadership, not another speech from a man who clearly knows something has gone badly wrong, but still can’t explain why.
This is Labour’s real problem. It is not just Starmer – all the pretenders jostling for his job do not have the answers either, because they all believe the same things: more welfare, more state control, more borrowing, more regulation. They are busy arguing over who should drive the car, but the truth is they are all heading in the wrong direction. They have no vision for the future.
And Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, criticised Starmer for not committing to joining an EU customs union.
double quotation markVoters sent Keir Starmer a clear message that Britain needs a bold new direction, but he keeps delivering the same old speech.
If the Government wants to regain the trust of the British people, they have to end the cost of living crisis. There is no way of doing that without getting rid of Keir Starmer’s red lines on Europe and fixing the botched Brexit deal, including a customs union. It’s really that simple.
Here is Peter Walker’s story on Catherine West urging other Labour MPs to join calls for Starmer’s resignation – but no longer proposing to stand as a candidate herself.
This is from Jessica Elgot, summing up the change in West’s position perfectly.
double quotation markLabour MP: “Catherine West is no longer trying to appoint herself as PM, she’s trying to appoint herself as Graham Brady.”
ShareCurtis says new Labour leader should be elected well before September, which is timetable proposed by West
The Labour MP Chris Curtis started his interview on Sky News by paying tribute to Keir Starmer, and what he had done to get Labour elected.
But he went on:
double quotation markBut I think the moment, the dramatic situation that we face – the geo-political context, the fact that we had such a difficult economic inheritance – does mean that we need more radical change than the government has set out so far.
I don’t think we saw a plan from the prime minister this morning in order to implement the kind of change that this country needs.
And I therefore think it’s time for us to look for new leadership.
And I think what that means is the prime minister rightly now setting out a timetable and an orderly process for a leadership election, and one in which Labour has a discussion about the vision for the country and what changes we think are needed in order to face the very real challenges that Britain currently faces.
Curtis said the Labour Growth Group would be publishing a report tomorrow on economic plans to renew Britain. He said he hoped a new Labour leader would be able to take forward some of those ideas.
Asked about the call from Catherine West for Starmer to set a timetable for the election of a new leader in September (see 12.20pm), Curtis said that was too long to wait. “I certainly think the timetable should be much shorter,” he said.
Asked if he expected to see “overwhelming” numbers of Labour MPs coming out this week demanding a timetable for Starmer’s resignation, Curtis replied: “Possibly.”
Curtis is seen as a Wes Streeting supporter. In an interview on the Today programme this morning, when he was told that Streeting had once described him as “brilliant”, Curtis claimed not to be aware of that. Asked if he thought Streeting himself was brilliant, Curtis said he was doing a “fantastic job” as health secretary.
Asked if he thought Streeting would be a brilliant PM, Curtis said there was “a wide range of talent” in the party.
Agreeing to elect a new Labour leader by September would (provided he could win a byelection) allow Andy Burnham to be a candidate. Holding the election sooner would benefit Burnham’s rivals.
Chris Curtis on Sky News Photograph: Sky NewsShareLabour MP Chris Curtis says Starmer should stand down
In an interview on Sky News, Chris Curtis, the Labour MP who is chair of the Labour Growth Group, has just announced that he no longer has confidence in Keir Starmer and wants him to set a timetable for his resignation.
Updated at 08.03 EDT
Getting back to wider policy, Rayner said “tweaks” would not be enough to fix the problems facing the economy.
double quotation markI don’t need to be persuaded that tweaks won’t fix the fundamental challenges that our country faces.
This government needs to put measures in place that makes people’s lives better. We need to fix the foundations of a system that is rigged against them, because we know that things can be so much better than this.
Spain and Canada have shown that a economies can grow and people can thrive when governments stay true to their values and put people first. And we need to learn from that.
In London, we lost young people who fear they will never afford a home.
And in my patch and across the north, we lost working people whose wages are too low and the costs are too high.
In Scotland and Wales people do not currently see Labour as the answer.
Conference, for too long governments have allowed wealth and power to concentrate at the top without a plan to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are shared fairly.
The result has been an economy that does not work for the majority, with wealth concentrated in far too few hands.
Rayner said that the the government could “cut the cost for households and put money back in the everyday economy”, in a way that was consistent with the government’s fiscal rules.
She ended by quoting the late John Prescott, who was also a union person and a former deputy PM.
double quotation markThe late John Prescott used to tell me, ‘You’ve got a voice, kid, use it.’ A union man to his core. John would have relished this fight.
Addressing the importance of affiliation to the Labour party, Rayner said that the government would not have passed the Employment Rights Act, or other workers’ rights measures, without having trade unions affiliated to the party.
ShareRayner tells CWU she was ‘born in Stockport, but raised in trade union movement’
Rayner praises the role played by trade unions in Labour politics.
double quotation markLabour exists to make working people better off, and that is not happening fast enough. And that needs to change now.
Conference, the trade union movement taught me that if you have strong values, if you work collectively, you can get things done no matter what you’re up against.
Conference, the trade union movement, the Labour party is not just a political alliance, it’s a family. And in families you have your ups and downs and we have.
But we look out for each other. And in the end, we’re always there for each other.
And it was the Tories that wrote me off and said that kids like me we’re getting pregnant to get a council house. That wasn’t what was on my mind when I was young. I was scared. I was frightened and I was looking for opportunity.
And it thanks to our Labour family that I was able to improve my life and the lives of my fellow workers who I represented as their trade union rep.
Our Labour family. Our union family gave me those opportunities.
You were there for me and proved that kids like me deserve better than that, and I wouldn’t be stood in front of you today if it wasn’t for our movement.
I may have been born in Stockport, but I was raised in the trade union movement.
These comments drew significant applause. And they are timely; later this afternoon the CWU will be debating whether it should remain affiliated to the Labour party.
ShareRayner 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.
double quotation markWe 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.
ShareRayner 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.
double quotation markThe 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.
ShareRayner tells CWU it’s clear what Labour government is doing ‘isn’t working’
Rayner says what Labour is doing is not working.
double quotation markAs 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.
Updated at 07.35 EDT
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”.
ShareStarmer’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
double quotation markAt 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
double quotation markI 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
double quotation markI 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
double quotation markOn 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
double quotation markIn 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’.
double quotation markThe 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.
double quotation markThat 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
double quotation markThe 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
double quotation markThat 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
double quotation markThe 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.
Updated at 07.29 EDT
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.
double quotation markI 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.
Updated at 07.20 EDT
Catherine West reportedly set to press ahead with call for Starmer to set timetable for resignation
This is from Ollie Cole at Times Radio.
double quotation markUnderstand 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.
ShareLabour 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.
Updated at 06.41 EDT