Many MPs have offered their thoughts on whether the Prime Minister should stay or go following Labour’s disastrous results in last week’s local elections. Sir Keir is facing pressure to resign from a growing number of MPs in his party, including some in the North West of England.
Over the days following the local elections 2026, many Labour MPs asserted on (social) media that it was time not only for a change of leader, but an accompanying change of policy.
Some of the calls from the North West of England MPs
Most of them call for Sir Keir to set a date for his departure and allow an orderly transition to a new leader of the party and indeed the country.
Andy McDonald
On BBC Radio Tees on Monday morning, when asked if he backed Sir Keir, Mr McDonald said: “I think we’ve crossed the watershed. Those [election] results were catastrophic, some would say existential – wiped out in Scotland and in Wales and devastated in our region as well.” He said the time had come for “an orderly transition to a new leader”, adding it needed to be someone who can connect with the British public, but also deliver the “radical programme of change that people wanted”.
He took issue with the “terrible errors” made by the government, highlighting some “appalling judgements”. As for who could take over, he said it is “imperative” to have a “broad range of voices” in any leadership contest, adding: “It cannot be a cabinet coronation – that would be the worst of all worlds.”
Mr McDonald correctly predicted that the Prime Minister would not be standing down as part of his big speech on Monday morning. While accepting that changing leader would be “disruptive”, Mr McDonald argued that it was necessary to “get us into the place that people want us to be”.
Luke Myer
Mr Myer said on Monday he had come to the “difficult conclusion” that Sir Keir cannot lead the party into the next general election. While praising the Prime Minister, he said progress had been “overshadowed by wider failures in areas such as immigration and insecurity”. On a more fundamental level, he took issue with the “failure to connect with the public and articulate a clear sense of purpose for the government”.
He hoped that a “change in leadership may provide the fresh authority needed both to restore confidence [and] demonstrate that Labour is a patriotic, positive, and common-sense party ready to govern for the long term.” Mr Myer believed it would be “far preferable” for both the country and the Labour Party for Sir Keir to step aside on his own terms, with a clear timeline as opposed to risking a “chaotic process”.
While he believed that a change of leader would not fix the “fundamental challenges” the country faces, Mr Myer argued it would at least “secure public consent for the changes required to address them”.
Anna Turley
Ms Turley, as Labour Party chair, accompanied Sir Keir to a local community centre in south east London for a speech in which the PM took responsibility for recent local election losses, but rejected calls to resign vowing to “prove his doubters wrong”.
Ms Turley later posted a photo online of the pair together. Reacting on Facebook, she made no direct reference to the pressure mounting on the Prime Minister, but said that “people have every right to feel fed up after decades of promises, chaos and being let down”.
She said the Prime Minister had “spoken from the heart”, adding: “The election results weren’t what we wanted, and we know people are sending us a message about the urgency of change.
“I was so proud to meet so many Labour councillors, candidates and volunteers around the country who put everything into their communities because they genuinely care about this country and the people in it. But this moment isn’t about giving up. It’s about stepping up. Fixing the problems that you are telling us about, not retreating into handwringing.”
Josh Simons
Josh Simons, Makerfield MP, former minister and before that the person who ran ‘Labour Together’, posted the text of his letter to the Times on his Facebook page.
“When I was elected, I promised to always put the people I represent first.
Today, that is what I have done. I have called on the Prime Minister to set out an orderly timetable for his departure. This is bigger than any one person. All of us must be honest about these challenges, including those vying to replace the prime minister. We need radicalism, energy, and immense courage.
Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the prime minister can rise to this moment. He has lost the country. He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”
Lizzi Collinge
Lizzi Collinge, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, which covers south Cumbrian towns and villages like Milnthorpe, Sedbergh, Arnside and more, made a statement this morning, Tuesday, May 12.
Taking to Facebook, she said that while the PM had led the country through ‘extremely difficult international situations’ with ‘skill’, he had ‘lost the confidence of the country’, calling on him to step down.
Her statement reads: “I have been taking time over the past week to reflect on the local election results elsewhere in the country, to reflect on our first two years in government, and of course to speak with my constituents.
“I am immensely proud of the progressive and important legislation we have passed, from the Employment Rights Act to the Water (Special Measures) Act. I am also proud of the clear and concerted action we have taken on the most pressing issues of our time: economic stability, clean energy and climate change, national security, and improving the NHS.”
She said the government had a ‘very difficult inheritance’ following the ‘destructive’ Conservative government, adding that ‘any Prime Minister’ would struggle to solve the problems over a two-year period.
Ms Collinge added: “I also recognise that the Prime Minister has led us through some extremely difficult international situations with skill and I thank him for that. However, it is clear to me that the Prime Minister has now lost the confidence of the country. And as an MP, my first duty is to my constituents and to my country. It is for this reason that I am now calling on the Prime Minister to step back and arrange an orderly transition to new leadership. I believe that Labour values and policies are still the only way to improve our country and we need a Prime Minister who can show the country what progress we have made and can still make.”
18 North West Labour MPs joined a growing number calling for change
In total, 18 North West labour MP’s are reported to have called for Sir Keir to step down so far, they are:
- David Baines
- Connor Naismith
- Anneliese Midgley
- Justin Madders
- Graham Stringer
- Debbie Abrahams
- Navendu Mishra
- Sarah Smith
- Jo Platt
- Charlotte Nichols
- Sarah Hall
- Jonathan Hinder
- Lorraine Beavers
- Kim Johnson
- Markus Campbell-Savours
- Ian Byrne
- Paula Barker
- Lizzi Collinge
Will the slogan Reform used for these elections become reality? (“Vote Starmer Out”)
Time will tell.
After articles by Local Democracy reporters Daniel Hodgson and Zach Harrison.
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