The floor fell out from under Keir Starmer. Last week’s local elections saw his Labour Party lose around 1,500 council seats in England and, for the first time in Welsh history since 1922, cede control to the nationalist Plaid Cymru.
Owen Winter of The Economist argues Starmer is now on borrowed time. Reform UK won approximately 26-27% of the national equivalent vote, becoming the biggest beneficiary alongside the Green Party. The result has squeezed Starmer between a rising right-wing populist force and young, urban progressives abandoning Labour.
“The tea rooms of Westminster are no longer debating policy; they are vetting successors.”
- Owen Winter, The Intelligence from The Economist
The math for an internal coup is becoming viable. With roughly 40 Labour MPs already calling for his resignation, the party machinery is moving to consider replacements. While Starmer remains in post, his attempt at a leadership reset is being overtaken by the scale of the electoral abandonment in heartland areas like Wigan and Salford, which the party had held for decades.
