Sunday, March 01, 2026
Let Starmer be.....
The paper says that the scale of defeat in an area that had returned Labour MPs for nearly a century, and where Starmer’s party still believed it could win even on polling day, plunged his ministers and MPs into renewed despair just weeks after he saw off a challenge to his position:
While only a handful of backbenchers called openly for Starmer to depart after the result, even loyal ministers said the surge in the Greens’ fortunes under the leadership of Zack Polanski meant the prime minister had to address an exodus of Labour voters from its left flank.
In a pointed comment, Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister and a key figure on Labour’s left, called the result “a wake-up call”.
But Starmer appeared minded to ignore the pressure, using a TV clip and letter to his MPs to attack the Greens as an “extreme” leftwing equivalent of Reform UK, saying they could not replicate the success in a general election.
Without a significant turnaround in his fortunes, Starmer could face a leadership challenge after elections in May to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils, with Labour currently expected to fare badly in all of them.
One new poll on Friday suggested that in Scotland, Labour could be pushed into fourth place for the first time, behind not just the SNP and Reform, but also the Scottish Greens.
“I think it hastens everything,” one MP on the soft left of the party said of the Gorton and Denton result. “I thought we could maybe keep going for another year after May but definitely not now. I don’t think anything can save him.”
Ministers usually loyal to the prime minister were similarly downbeat. “The result is cataclysmically bad for us. The worst possible,” one said. “It will obviously intensify calls for Keir to make moves to the progressive wing, but the calls will be to do it now – not in a few months or even a few weeks.”
The sense of humiliation for Starmer is heightened by the fact that Downing Street blocked Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, from standing in the byelection, with many in the party believing his local popularity would have saved the seat.
The two men met in Manchester this week for one-on-one talks, which were said to have been initially awkward but ultimately constructive as they cleared the air.
Burnham is understood not to have ruled out having another go at returning to parliament. “With all the chaos and turmoil, who knows what might happen. It would be foolish to say he would never,” one ally said.
The paper adds that one point of contention for ministers is likely to be the government’s move to make it harder for migrants to achieve settled status in the UK, forcing them to wait for ten years rather than the current five. “The antidote to division and hostility is unity,” said one MP. “But you’ve got to mean it. You can’t keep playing dog-whistle politics on migration and wondering why you’re losing votes among ethnic minority voters.”
In the West Wing the antidote was 'Let Bartlett be Bartlett', that doesn't appear to be an option for Starmer, who needs to have a complete rethink about his own political direction and that of his government.
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Why are the Greens 4th in the poll AND NOT THE LIBDEMs?.You can argue that Reform and Greens are extreme, BUT THEY GET NOTICED. THEY SHOUT and are frank with their comments WHICH GET REPORTED. The voter angry and disillusioned are then attracted to 'false dawns'. Starmer is now reaping the wind of following an extreme party. HOWEVER! What are the LIBDEMs doing to be more noticed? Our representative in Denton got NO publicity or support although she had been there doing great work for years.
We should be shouting louder for ethnic minorities for they come to the UK to succeed in life, in the NHS, shop owners, etc and pay taxes. Let Starmer be.... I would say should we let Ed be more forthright ,vociferous to encourage the party to come to the front of the debate NATIONALLY rather than just be the party of 'Middle England'.
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We should be shouting louder for ethnic minorities for they come to the UK to succeed in life, in the NHS, shop owners, etc and pay taxes. Let Starmer be.... I would say should we let Ed be more forthright ,vociferous to encourage the party to come to the front of the debate NATIONALLY rather than just be the party of 'Middle England'.
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