Sir Keir Starmer has put measures to tackle the cost of living and forge closer ties with the European Union at the heart of his plan to revive Labour’s fortunes after a disastrous set of elections.
The Prime Minister is battling to save his job, with a Labour MP plotting to launch a leadership challenge on Monday in the hope of spurring his Cabinet to move to oust him.
But despite mounting pressure to quit, Sir Keir insisted he would lead Labour into the next general election to continue with his 10-year project of “national renewal”.
The Prime Minister will use an address on Monday and the King’s Speech on Wednesday to mount a fightback after growing numbers of Labour MPs demanded a change at the top of the party.
In a Mirror interview, Sir Keir promised to be “full-throated” about the need for closer ties with Brussels as he sought to win back his wavering MPs and address the drift of voters from Labour to the Greens in many former strongholds in London and cities across England.
But the big winners from the local elections in England were Reform UK, led by Brexit’s champion Nigel Farage, which snatched councils which had been Labour for generations in former northern heartlands.
In an apparent attempt to address the concerns of voters who felt left behind, Sir Keir promised “an economy that really works for everyone, wherever they live”.
The Mirror reported that No 10 and the Treasury are drawing up support for families, targeting fuel costs and household bills which have soared since the Iran war pushed up global oil and gas prices.
Scrapping September’s planned increase in fuel duty is understood to be an option on the table, the newspaper reported.
Sir Keir promised action to address the economic impact of the war, saying: “I know this causes anxiety for families, and I won’t stand by.”
He said that he would be responding with a plan “about the hope and opportunity of a better future, part of which is a stronger economy and an economy that really works for everyone, wherever they live, whatever they do”.
“There are a number of strands to that, but one is, we have to be closer to Europe, and I just want to be full-throated about this.”
A youth experience scheme, allowing young EU and British citizens to work and study in each others’ countries, is expected to be agreed this summer and implemented by 2027.
Sir Keir said: “I feel that Brexit has held back our young people. They should be free to work, study, travel in European countries, just as I was able to when I was growing up.
“That has been smashed away from young people because of Brexit. I’m not going to let Brexit stand in the way of their opportunities, and therefore we’ll push forward on that.”
Former Foreign Office minister Catherine West has promised to launch a leadership bid on Monday unless Sir Keir is ushered out by the Cabinet.
But the Prime Minister said he would not walk away from the job.
Asked if he would lead Labour at the next election, expected in 2029, and serve a full term, he said: “Yes I will, and I’ve always said it’s a decade of national renewal, where the legacy we inherited was an appalling legacy on all fronts, not just the economy, which was broken.”
After launching her surprise leadership bid Ms West, who was in Sir Keir’s government until September last year, described the election results as “apocalyptic”.
She told the Press Association: “What I’d like to see is the Cabinet locking itself in a room tonight and coming up with a plan to respond to what was the worst election result for the Labour Party that I can remember, and I’ve been in public life since 2001.”
She hoped the party could unite around a single Cabinet figure to avoid the need for a leadership election.
But she added: “I have said that if the Cabinet do not get their act together and get the seriousness of the moment that we find ourselves electorally, that on Monday morning, I will email every single one of my colleagues and ask for up to 80 names.”
She would need the backing of 20% of Labour’s 403 MPs – a total of 81 – to challenge Sir Keir.
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