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Keir Starmer has vowed he can win the next election and that it will be a battle between Labour and Reform. More revelations about Peter Mandelson’s failed security vetting had raised concerns among Labour MPs, who are also worried about the May elections. However, speaking with The Times, the embattled PM insisted Labour could defy the odds and turn things around. Asked about winning the general election, he said: “I think we can. I think it’s going to be a very important general election. It’s likely to be Labour versus Reform. An election where the defining question is, what is...

Labour is on track for its worst local election performance, data analysed by the Guardian shows, in a blow that will pile further pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership. Barring a drastic change in fortunes, Labour’s vote-share could fall to historic lows across elections for councils in England and devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland on 7 May, with big gains for Reform, the Greens and nationalist parties, according to recent polling. The collapse in support is particularly existential in the race for the Welsh parliament, the Senedd, which Labour has dominated since its creation in 1999. Polling shows Labour’s vote...

Labour is trailing in the polls and the prime minister's personal ratings have plumbed the depths. The party is facing losses in forthcoming elections: losing control of Wales, shedding councillors in England, and going into reverse in Scotland. To put the tin lid on it, the prime minister has been on the back foot over his appointment of Lord Mandelson to the job of ambassador to the US, and the subsequent sacking of senior civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, in a row over security vetting. So the question being asked around Westminster is not 'should there be a Labour leadership...

Labour could lose nearly 1,600 council seats at the local elections even on a good night, new research suggests. In a best-case scenario, Labour could still lose 1,597 council seats across England and nearly 2,000 seats in the worst-case – in a set of local election results that could seal Keir Starmer’s fate as PM. Labour currently has 2,196 councillors across the seats up for election, meaning a good result for the party would still leave the party’s number of locally elected representatives dwindling in the hundreds. Labour is also on track to come third in both the Scottish and...

Labour has slipped to fourth place in a poll on who people will vote for amid growing pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of the upcoming local elections. YouGov research has still Reform ahead on national voting intention on 24%, with the Conservatives second on 19%. And the latest poll has the Greens gaining two points on Labour, in third place on 18% ahead of Labour on 17%. The Liberal Democrats are fifth on 13%. Labour is expected to lose a number of seats on May 7, with Reform and the Green Party expected to make sizeable gains. There...

LABOUR has sparked fury by allowing a major Falklands oil field to go ahead — while holding back drilling in the North Sea. The massive Sea Lion development was approved by the Falkland Islands Government late last year, allowing it to move to full production. It is understood it would never be sanctioned without UK backing. The field holds hundreds of millions of barrels of oil and could keep pumping for decades. Key equipment is set to be built in UK hubs including Aberdeen, Newcastle and Rosyth. Island chiefs said the scheme will support the Falklands’ “economic independence”.

Sir Keir Starmer will not resign even if Labour suffers very heavy losses at the May local elections, says a Cabinet minister. Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds braced the party for dismal results in just over a month’s time, stressing many people may use the elections to voice a “protest” vote in the cost-of-living crisis deepening due to Donald Trump’s Iran war. Even before America and Israel started its airstrikes on Iran in late February, Labour and Sir Keir were deeply unpopular in the UK, hitting record lows in polls including in London. Asked on Sky News, if there was a...

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could win a staggering 2,260 seats at next month’s local elections in England. Polling experts are predicting the biggest victory in decades. And they have warned that Labour could lose almost 2,000 councillors as the nation turns on Sir Keir Starmer. The Tories are also expected to suffer a brutal night on May 7, which could see them losing more than 1,000 seats. Zack Polanski’s Green Party is likely to be the biggest beneficiary, boosting its numbers on councils across the country by around 450. According to leading psephologist Steve Fisher, Reform UK’s expected victories will...

The number of small boat migrants to have reached Britain since Labour came to power has topped 69,000 after nearly 1,000 arrived in less than a week. Home Office figures showed 272 migrants came across the Channel yesterday. It meant 984 reached British soil over six days. The latest arrivals also pushed the tally under Labour, since the general election in July 2024, to 69,155. It comes after the head of the UK's Border Security Command quit after failing to stem the surge in crossings. Martin Hewitt will leave the post of border security commander in a few days’ time...

A Labour council has launched an online 'myth-buster' urging people not to blame asylum seekers for violence against women. In a post on social media, Liverpool City Council warned against associating foreign cultures with attacks on women and girls - adding there is 'no causal link between asylum seeker populations and increased levels of VAWG'. It urges residents to 'know the facts', providing a link to a page on its website addressing the 'most common myths' and the truth about them. Common misconceptions include asylum seekers being treated better than the British homeless, and being responsible for 'rising violence against...

A record number of immigrants have applied for British citizenship under Labour ahead of a crackdown and the impending threat of a Reform government. A whopping 291,971 people submitted applications to the Home Office last year - rising from 253,757 in 2024. Eligibility for UK citizenship requires having lived in the UK for five years or having parents with British citizenship. Anyone who is married to a Brit and has lived in the UK for three years can also apply. Experts say the sudden increase in applications has been fuelled by Labour, the Conservatives and Reform all vowing to restrict...

Channel migrants have arrived in Britain seven days in a row for the first time this year. There were 309 arrivals who crossed from northern France aboard four dinghies on Monday, pushing the total number of arrivals since Labour came to power past the 68,000 mark. It means 1,200 migrants have reached British soil over seven days. Until then the longest stretch of consecutive arrivals this year had been three days in mid-January. The total number of arrivals under Labour now stands at 68,123. Of those, 3,409 have come since the start of this year. On Monday, two of the...

Several Labour MPs are in talks about defecting to the Greens, but are seeking guarantees they would be backed electorally by their new party, the Guardian has been told. Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens in England and Wales, has said publicly that he has chatted to Labour MPs about the idea of switching sides, with the leftwing party enjoying a surge in membership and having overtaken Labour in some recent opinion polls. A series of other senior Green figures have confirmed that talks with several MPs are happening, but that none are yet at the stage of wanting...

Keir Starmer’s plans for digital ID cards could go far beyond the original proposals - even making it easier to claim benefits and notifying people when to put their bins out. Labour on Tuesday unveiled its prototype digital ID system as it laid out further details on what the scheme could look like in its push to create 'Government by app'. The Prime Minister first sold the scheme as a way to crack down on illegal migration - but now Labour has revealed its vision for a one-stop shop that could become the ‘front door’ for public services. Documents published...

Angela Rayner today led calls for Keir Starmer to drag Labour even further Left following its 'catastrophic' by-election defeat. The former deputy prime minister said the disastrous result in the previously safe Labour seat of Gorton and Denton should serve as a 'wake-up call' for a party struggling to demonstrate 'the change that we promised'. Ms Rayner, who is among the favourites to succeed Sir Keir if he is forced out in the coming months, said the party leadership had to be 'braver' and adopt a 'Labour agenda that puts people first' – code for a more Left-wing platform on...

Furious female Labour MPs have told Keir Starmer to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a “complete culture change” in Downing Street after a series of scandals they say have exposed a No 10 “boy’s club”. Harriet Harman, one of the party’s most senior figures, urged Starmer to revive the role of first secretary of state, a post previously occupied by Peter Mandelson under Gordon Brown. But she insisted the role must be held by a woman to “transform the political culture in government around women and girls”.

Labour MPs have called for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down after his chief of staff was forced to quit Downing Street over the Peter Mandelson scandal. Morgan McSweeney resigned today after pushing for the appointment of Lord Mandelson as Britain's ambassador to the US. While Mr McSweeney has been one of Sir Keir's closest aides for nearly six years and was considered instrumental in his 2024 election victory, his departure has been far from unanimously mourned within the Party. 'I won't be shedding a tear that he's gone,' one anonymous Labour MP said. 'He's the very worst of our...

Keir Starmer should step aside in favour of a caretaker prime minister who would run the country until a leadership contest is held in the summer, Labour MPs have argued. Despairing Government backbenchers argue that unless the Prime Minister quits over the Peter Mandelson crisis, the party is heading for disaster at the Gorton and Denton by-election later this month – followed by annihilation in May’s local elections. They hope the Cabinet will this week persuade Sir Keir to quit and allow a ‘non-contentious’ candidate such as Defence Secretary John Healey or Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn to be a...

It seems like a long time since that Labour landslide. It’s said that all political careers end in failure and it’s certainly true that, while it’s being ousted by your party or being turfed out by the electorate, most Prime Ministers don’t leave the job of their own accord. Currently Sir Keir Starmer is battling for control of his party a mere 18 months after a spectacular election triumph. The intervening period has seen a succession of bad news stories for the Premier, along with cabinet scandals and embarrassing u-turns - including on an income tax rise at the last...

Sir Keir Stamer has insisted the "vast majority" of Labour MPs supported him and wanted him to continue doing his job as prime minister. He was speaking to the Sunday Times at the end of a week in which speculation about a potential leadership challenge has risen. Sir Keir told the paper "in politics, you get this sort of thing all of the time, there is always talk". Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the prime minister should resign over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US, adding that Labour MPs should "develop a...