Prime minister Keir Starmer has pledged to rebuild the UK’s relationship with the EU and help young people get jobs in a speech aimed at saving his leadership amid calls for him to resign by several Labour MPs.
Following the loss of 1,496 councillors and the control of 38 councils for Labour in the local elections last week, Starmer is facing demands to quit, including from MPs in his own party.
In what was described as a “make-or-break” speech on Monday morning and his attempt to save his leadership, the prime minister admitted the government has “made mistakes” but vowed to prove his “doubters” wrong and show British people “tired of a status quo that has failed them” that the government is on their side.
Starmer pledged to build a closer relatinship with the EU and put Britain “at the heart of Europe”, including a “youth experience scheme”.
“For our young people…Brexit snatched away their ability to work, to study and to live easily in Europe,” he said.
“I am proud we restored Eurasmus, but I want to go further, I want to make a better offer for our young people.
“I want an ambitious youth experience scheme to be at the heart of our new arrangement with the EU, so that our young people can work and study and live in Europe, a symbol of a stronger relationship and a fairer future with our closest allies.”
Starmer said the government will go “much further” in investing in apprenticeships, technical excellence colleges, and special educational needs. He also repeated the promise that every young person struggling to find work will get a guaranteed job, training or work placement.
In addition, he said the government “will go much further” with the Pride in Place programme, which aims to give local councils and community groups more control of what happens in their area, and the government will introduce legislation in the King’s Speech on Wednesday giving it the option to nationalise British Steel, subject to a public interest test being met.
Calls for Keir Starmer to resign
Among those calling for Starmer to resign are Labour backbench MP Catherine West, who said she would trigger a leadership challenge against him if a member of the Cabinet didn’t step up to take over.
Following his speech, she backed down from the threat but still called for him to quit as prime minister. In a statement, she said:
“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.”
Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has also publicly criticised Starmer. In her statement she said: “What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change. This may be our last chance. The Labour Party must now live up to our name: we must be the party of working people.”
She called for “immediate action to cut costs for households”, a “rising minimum wage”, “giving mayors powers to transform planning and licensing” to “boost local business and good growth”, going “further on planning reforms” and being “unafraid to promote new forms of public, community and cooperative ownership across the board”.
She also backed Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who is seen as a future Labour leader, in returning to Westminster as a MP. She said:
“This is bigger than personalities, but it is time to acknowledge that blocking Andy Burnham was a mistake.
“We must show we understand the scale of change the moment calls for – that means bringing our best players into Parliament – and embracing the type of agenda that has been successful at a local level, rather than reaching back to an agenda and politics that has failed people.”
At the time of writing, more than 40 Labour MPs have called for Starmer to resign.