by Xinhua writer Zhao Jiasong
LONDON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Despite support expressed during the King's Speech following Labour's heavy local election losses, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a widening party revolt and reports that Health Secretary Wes Streeting is preparing a leadership challenge.
He now faces the difficult task of holding together a restive parliamentary party, keeping wavering ministers in line, and proving that Labour's 2024 landslide has not already hardened into a crisis of authority.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
The immediate trigger was Labour's poor performance in local and regional elections last week. In England, Labour lost nearly 1,500 council seats and control of dozens of local authorities, including traditional strongholds. By contrast, Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, gained more than 1,400 council seats and took control of 14 councils, turning the local contests into a warning sign for both Labour and the Conservatives.
The setback was not confined to England. In Wales, Plaid Cymru won 43 seats in the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), ahead of Reform UK with 34 and Labour with just nine, ending Labour's century-long political dominance in Wales and its uninterrupted leadership of the devolved government since the Senedd was established in 1999.
The election results gave Labour MPs a concrete reason to act on doubts that had been building for months. At least 80 Labour MPs have explicitly called on the prime minister to resign or to set out his departure timetable, the BBC has counted.
The revolt has also spread to the lower levels of Starmer's government. Four junior ministers, including prominent MP Jess Phillips, resigned Tuesday, while several parliamentary aides have also stepped down.
The pressure intensified on Wednesday when The Times reported, citing people close to Streeting, that he was preparing to resign and mount a formal challenge for the Labour leadership, possibly as early as Thursday.
Downing Street said Starmer still had "full confidence" in Streeting's support, while Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, another possible successor, told allies to "hold the line" as he looked for a route back to Parliament, according to The Guardian.
A former cabinet minister, Burnham has led Greater Manchester since 2017, but he is not currently an MP. That means he would first need to return to the House of Commons, most likely through a by-election, before he could stand for the Labour leadership.
HOW COULD A CHALLENGE WORK?
Starmer cannot be removed by a simple parliamentary confidence vote among Labour MPs. A Labour leadership election can be triggered in two main ways: the leader resigns, or a challenger secures nominations from 20 percent of Labour MPs. Under the current parliamentary party, that means a challenger would need the backing of 81 Labour MPs to formally enter the race. If that threshold is reached, Starmer, as the sitting leader, would automatically be on the ballot.
That has made the scramble for nominations a focus of speculation in Westminster. Although the number of Labour MPs calling on Keir Starmer to step down has already surpassed 80, dissatisfaction with the prime minister does not necessarily translate into formal backing for a single challenger.
John Bryson, a professor at the University of Birmingham, told Xinhua that Labour's leadership crisis exposed a "major deficiency" in the party, as it has few obvious alternatives with the standing and experience to replace Starmer as prime minister.
WHO COULD FOLLOW?
Streeting is among the most closely watched potential challengers. His position has also illustrated the confusion surrounding Westminster's ongoing war of political briefings.
Sky News reported earlier this week that Streeting's friends had dismissed talk of a coup by saying he had been at the cinema watching "The Devil Wears Prada 2." However, by Wednesday, The Times was reporting that people close to him said he was preparing to resign and challenge Starmer.
Burnham has also been discussed as a possible successor. However, the Financial Times reported Wednesday that Burnham's path back to Westminster remained unclear, with several Manchester Labour MPs ruling out standing aside to create a by-election for him. The report said no obvious seat in the city appeared available, although Burnham could still look elsewhere in Greater Manchester or Merseyside.
WHY A RESET MAY NOT BE ENOUGH
Labour's debate is not only about who should lead the party, but also about what the party should now do in government.
The Guardian reported Wednesday that the King's Speech, which included bills on the National Health Service (NHS), courts, education and regulation, was seen by some Labour MPs as too cautious to win back voters after the election losses.
One Labour MP described much of the program as "incrementalism," while Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of the Institute for Public Policy Research, called for bolder action on the cost of living, including rent controls and longer-term reforms to boost growth and reshape the role of the state.
Louis Bromfield, a researcher at Swansea University in Wales, told Xinhua that controversies over freebies, disability payments and winter fuel payments had damaged Labour's working-class image.
He said the Welsh result reflected two years of frustration with the main parties and marked the emergence of a more European-style multi-party picture, calling it "a completely new political landscape."
The delivery problem would remain whoever leads Labour. In an article published Wednesday, think tank Institute for Government said that "whether we see a change of prime minister or not," the government still needed to fix deeper problems in how the British state works. ■