Pressure grows on Starmer as more Labour MPs call for resignation – UK politics live

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Starmer appoints Harriet Harman as adviser on women and girls

Keir Starmer has appointed former deputy leader Harriet Harman as his adviser on women and girls in his first post-election move.

Harman will work with ministers on work to tackle violence against women and girls, improving job prospects and increasing representation in parliament and public life, Downing Street said. She will report directly to the prime minister in the unpaid part-time role.

Earlier, Harman told Sky News that Starmer should continue as prime minister but that he needs to make changes. “More of the same is not acceptable,” she said.

Election results so far

Here are where things stand according to results data from the Press Association:

• After 129 of 136 English councils had declared full results, Labour had lost control of 32 authorities and suffered a net loss of 1,051 seats.

• Reform gained control of 13 councils and added 1,276 seats.

• The Conservatives suffered a net loss of eight councils and 427 councillors.

• The Liberal Democrats won three councils and gained a net 142 seats.

• The Green party gained control of four councils and put on 306 councillors.

• The SNP have 58 Holyrood seats, Labour 17, Reform 17, the Scottish Greens 15, the Conservatives 12 and the Liberal Democrats 10.

• In Wales, Plaid Cymru have 43 seats in the Senedd, with Reform on 34, Labour on nine, the Conservatives on seven, the Greens on two and the Liberal Democrats on one.

The SNP’s Stephen Gethins said Scottish independence should be a priority for the party, saying 73 MSPs out of 129 elected on Thursday supported the move, PA reports.

The SNP won 58 seats while the Scottish Greens, which has long supported independence, won a record 15.

“We’ve got the biggest pro-independence majority that the parliament has ever had, the people have spoken and the weekend after an election is a good time for us all to reflect on that just a little bit,” Gethins said.

Trump congratulates SNP's Swinney

Donald Trump has congratulated the SNP’s John Swinney, who will return as first minister after a fifth Scottish election victory for the party.

Writing on his Truth Social app, the US president said:

Congratulations to John Swinney on winning his Re-Election for First Minister of Scotland. He is a good man, who worked very hard, along with the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, with respect to Tariff relief for Great Scottish Whiskey — and deserves this Big Electoral Victory!

First minister of Scotland John Swinney samples whisky during a visit to Deanston Distillery in Doune, Scotland, on 1 May. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Lucy Powell: 'Timetable for leadership change is wrong conclusion'

Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, said it was time to end “this incessant speculation” about Stamer’s position.

“What I would say to people is, thinking that setting out some kind of timetable would put to bed the issues of leadership, I think is actually the wrong conclusion here,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Lucy Powell at a local election count in Manchester. Photograph: Gary Roberts Photography/Shutterstock

“All that would do is fire the starting gun of a, quite honestly, very distracting and ongoing debate about leadership.”

She added: “I don’t want to hear about that any more. I wanted to get on with the job of turning this country around and delivering the big change, the big, bold Labour change that people voted for two years ago. The more we talk about leadership, the less we can do that.”

Powell confirmed that she would want Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, to be allowed to stand for parliament, but said this should not then involve Burnham then challenging Starmer.

“We don’t do hospital takeovers in the Labour party. It’s not what we’re about,” she said.

Growing number of Labour MPs join calls for Starmer to quit

A number of Labour MPs have come out demanding Keir Starmer resigns. A few of them aired their views on social media and on the media round this morning, here’s what they had to say:

Connor Naismith, MP for Crewe and Nantwich, hinted in a post on X that Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham could take the reigns.

Andy is the most popular Labour politician in the country. The suggestion that he wouldn’t be able to win in some of the seats Labour is currently struggling to win is just wrong.

Ironically, this is precisely why we need him back on the front line of national politics.

Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Starmer has to go “in the not too distant future”.

I think there are three scenarios: one is that Keir carries on until the next election and we lose, and we lose badly.

Secondly, that in the end, Keir decides to stick it out, and there is a move to get rid of him, an internal battle, and then the public don’t like parties that fight amongst themselves, so that could lead to an election defeat.

Or in the end, Keir recognises, for the good of the country and the Government, he has to step down at some point in the not too distant future.

Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, also told BBC Radio 4’s Today that Starmer had a “matter of months” to make a decision about his future.

“I hope, as he has said, that he will always put the country first and we have to recognise the dangers that we are in now.

“But on this trajectory it doesn’t look good, not just for locals – I lost some really dear colleagues who worked so hard for their constituency – but it means the prospect of us not just losing an election, but who we would lose to and that makes me really fearful.”

Keir Starmer under pressure to agree exit plan after election mauling

Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out a timeline for his departure after a crushing defeat in elections across Britain prompted senior Labour MPs to call for him to step down within a year.

In a disastrous set of results, Labour had lost control of more than 25 councils and more than 1,000 council seats in England by Friday night, many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made large gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.

After more than a century of domination, Labour has faced near-wipeout in Wales, where the party’s first minister, Eluned Morgan, lost her seat. Labour could slump to third place in Scotland behind the SNP and Reform. In London, a Green surge meant Labour lost control of councils it had dominated, including Hackney and Waltham Forest.

While the prime minister appeared to have avoided an immediate coup, there was a furious response to the results among senior MPs and the unions, with some warning him to change course or risk electoral oblivion. By Friday evening, 10 more MPs had called for him to set out a timetable for departure from No 10.

Read more here:

Starmer under pressure as Labour MPs demand he stands down

In the wake of the local election results, Keir Starmer faced calls to stand down after voters handed a damning verdict on the Labour party.

Starmer took responsibility for defeat after Labour lost hundreds of councillors in England and suffered humiliation in Wales, but he made clear that he would not quit, saying “tough days like this don’t weaken my resolve”.

Some Labour MPs have come out demanding his resignation, but members of Starmer’s cabinet have rallied around the prime minister.

Health secretary Wes Streeting, who is widely seen as a likely candidate in a potential leadership race despite publicly denying such ambitions, said Starmer had his “support”.

Keir Starmer speaks to members of the media in London following the local elections. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

“I’ll continue putting my shoulder to the wheel as the health and social care secretary, who’s getting the NHS back on its feet and making sure it’s fit for the future,” he said.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood acknowledged “a devastating night” for Labour but said the prime minister “has rightly said we must do better”.

But several backbench MPs have called on Starmer to set out a timetable to resign. Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East, said Starmer has to go “in the not too distant future”, while Sarah Owen, MP for Luton North, said it’s “do or die for the Labour leadership”.

Labour suffered a historic loss in Wales, where the party’s 27 years in power has come to an end with Plaid Cymru winning the largest number of seats, though still short of a majority. In Scotland, the SNP is emerging as the victor.

The Conservative party also lost ground, but there has been no leadership speculation around Kemi Badenoch.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks to reporters as he arrives at a gathering for party supporters at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Essex. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Arguably the biggest winner on Thursday was Reform UK, having gained more than 1,200 seats and control of 12 councils in England, according to the Press Association’s tally of the results. Reform leader Nigel Farage declared he had ushered in “a truly historic shift in British politics”.

The Liberal Democrats and Green party also made gains at the expense of Labour, with Greens leader Zack Polanski announcing the era of two-party politics “is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried”.