FIle photo of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
| Photo Credit: AP

Beleaguered British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will attempt a reset on Monday (May 11, 2026), as he faces a growing threat to his leadership following disastrous local and regional polls.

In a speech, his office said he will acknowledge that “incremental change won’t cut it” with an increasingly disgruntled public, promising “a bigger response” in areas such as economic growth, closer European ties and energy.

On Sunday (May 10, 2026), his Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said a leadership contest was not the answer as Labour licks its wounds from last week’s election drubbing.

Mr. Starmer himself signalled that he hoped to stay in power until 2034.

But several Labour lawmakers made it clear they believed it was time for him to go.

Former junior minister Catherine West announced that if a Cabinet Minister did not challenge Mr. Starmer by Monday (May 11, 2026), she would try to kickstart a leadership contest herself — a move that could open the door to others.

Such a move would also likely spark a damaging bout of infighting as MPs from the left and right of the party battled to position their preferred candidate or shore up Mr. Starmer.

‘Lost the country’

Under party rules, any challenger would need the support of 81 Labour MPs — 20% of the party in parliament — to trigger a contest.

Another lawmaker, former loyalist Josh Simons, urged Mr. Starmer to step down, saying he had “lost the country”.

A third, veteran MP Clive Betts, said there had “to be a way to actually bring in a new leader in a proper and constructive manner in the next few months”.

The election results were particularly tough for Labour in Wales, where they lost control of the devolved government for the first time since the parliament in Cardiff was established 27 years ago.

Elsewhere, they lost nearly 1,500 local council seats while the anti-immigration Reform U.K. party surged from less than 100 to over 1,400 seats under Brexit figurehead leader Nigel Farage.

In Scotland, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) John Swinney called for another independence referendum to shield the nation from a future Reform government.

The polls came less than two years after Mr. Starmer swept to power in a landslide general election victory, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.

Mr. Starmer, 63, has swerved from one policy misstep to another since then, and is engulfed in a scandal over the appointment — and sacking — of Peter Mandelson as U.K. Ambassador to Washington, after revelations about the envoy’s ties to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Prime Minister has failed to spur economic growth as British citizens continue to feel the effects of a years-long cost-of-living pinch, but has been praised for resisting U.S. President Donald Trump over Iran.

‘Decade of renewal’

Before last Thursday’s (May 7, 2026) polls, the British press had been awash with rumours that former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner or Health Minister Wes Streeting could try to oust Mr. Starmer afterwards.

But neither is universally popular within Labour and would need to be nominated by a high threshold of the party’s MPs to fire the starting gun on a leadership contest.

Ms. Rayner on Sunday (May 10, 2026) stopped short of calling for Mr. Starmer to quit but said the current strategy “isn’t working and it needs to change”.

“This may be our last chance… The prime minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs,” she wrote on X.

Another much-touted possible contender, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is currently unable to challenge as he does not have a seat in parliament.

The lack of consensus has led to speculation that there could be a move behind a so-called unity candidate like Defence Secretary John Healey or Armed Forces minister Al Carns.

The absence of an obvious successor means Mr. Starmer could still hold on.

There has also been reluctance in the party to replace him after the Conservatives went through three prime ministers in four months in 2022.

Mr. Starmer himself has repeatedly resolved to stay put.

Questioned over whether he would lead Labour at the next election, expected in 2029 at the latest, and serve a full term of up to five years, he told the Sunday Mirror: “Yes, I will.”

“I’ve always said it’s a decade of national renewal,” he added.

Published – May 11, 2026 08:45 am IST

Meghnad Desai
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer is seen during a meeting on the situation in Ukraine and security issues in Europe at the Elysée Palace in Paris, France on February 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is willing to deploy British peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if needed. His remarks come shortly before Trump administration officials are expected to meet Russian officials in Riyadh on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) to increase bilateral engagement and to discuss an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. The leaders of the EU and U.K. were not invited to the talks, meeting instead in Paris on Monday (February 17, 2025) to discuss the war and the negotiations.

Writing in the Telegraph newspaper, Mr Starmer said the U.K. was ready to play a leadership role in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine. This would not just mean continuing financial assistance to Kyiv, he said, but also “putting our own troops on the ground if necessary.”

Mr Starmer also wrote that Ukraine would had to have a place at the negotiation table. He also called for U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine and for European countries to do more for the security of the continent.

Mr Starmer warned that Europe was facing a “once in a generation” moment in terms of its security and an “existential” question not just for Ukraine but also Europe.

Mr Starmer said that in Paris he would tell his counterparts that Europe had to do more for its own security. Mr Trump has been pushing members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance to spend 5% annually of their GDP on defence, up from the guideline 2%. The UK’s figure is currently 2.3% , with plans to spend 2.5% of GDP, but without a set deadline reach that target.

“We have got to show we are truly serious about our own defence and bearing our own burden. We have talked about it for too long — and president Trump is right to demand that we get on with it,” Mr Starmer wrote.

The Prime Minister is also hoping to capitalize on a possibility that Mr Trump’s approach to the U.K. is different from his view of the EU, with US-EU ties fraying. Mr Trump had said that he liked Mr Starmer “a lot” at the end of January and the British Prime Minister is expected at the White House at the end of the month.

“U.S. support will remain critical and a U.S. security guarantee is essential for a lasting peace, because only the US can deter Putin from attacking,” Mr Starmer wrote, adding that he would press Mr Trump for a “strong” deal for Ukraine.

“Ukraine must be at the table in these negotiations, because anything less would accept Putin’s position that Ukraine is not a real nation,” Mr Starmer wrote. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected any deal without Kyiv at the table.

On Monday Mr Zelenskyy said that he did not know about the U.S.-Russia talks and was not participating in them. On Sunday, Mr Trump had said that the Ukrainian president would be involved in the talks.

“We cannot have another situation like Afghanistan, where the US negotiated directly with the Taliban and cut out the Afghan government,” Mr Starmer wrote, adding that he felt Mr Trump would also want to avoid a repeat of such a situation.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, visit to the University College London Hospital (UCLH), in London.
| Photo Credit: AP

LONDON

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the country’s National Health Service (NHS) needs to “reform or die” following a damming report on the state of Britain’s free healthcare system.

“We know working people can’t afford to pay more, so it’s reform or die,” Mr. Starmer said during a speech on Thursday (September 12, 2024).

The remarks followed the publication of a government commissioned report, authored by former U.K. Health Secretary and doctor, Ara Darzi, which said that the NHS was in “critical condition” although its  “vital signs” were strong.

The report cites 14,000 additional deaths per year owing to the state of the healthcare system, long wait times, “crumbling buildings” and  mental health patients being housed in “Victorian-era cells infested with vermin”. A lack of capital investment during the 2010s, when the Conservative government was in power, as well as the impact of the pandemic were contributing factors to the current situation, as per the report.

Describing the state of the NHS as “devastating, heartbreaking, infuriating”, Mr. Starmer said there would be no extra funding for  the system without reform, as he outlined a ten year reform period centred on three thematic changes. Mr. Starmer said the NHS would shift to greater digitisation, preventative medicine and more community-based – rather than hospital-based – care for patients.

The NHS is a significant employer of foreigners, with Indians leading the list. A total of 60,533 Indian citizens were employed by the service as per the U.K. government data from June 2023.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visits The Hub – Solihull Mosque, in Solihull, West Midlands, England, on August 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday (August 8, 2024) vowed no “let up” in moves to prevent further far-right riots across England, after more anticipated street violence failed to materialise overnight.

“It’s important that we don’t let up here,” Mr. Starmer told media outlets as he visited a mosque and met community leaders in Solihull, western England, following the easing of more than a week of unrest in towns and cities nationwide.

Rioters thwarted by ‘show of unity’ by communities, says police chief

A heavy security presence across Britain and a “show of unity” by local communities prevented a repeat of the widespread rioting seen in recent days involving racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants, London’s police chief said on Thursday (August 8, 2024).

Britain has been hit by a series of riots after the killing of three young girls in a July 29 knife attack in Southport, northwest England, triggering a wave of false online posts that wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.

Far-right groups opposed to immigration planned dozens of gatherings across the UK on Wednesday.

In response, thousands of police and anti-racism protesters gathered in cities across the United Kingdom and London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said the night had gone “very peacefully” apart from a few criminal incidents.

“I think the show of force from the police, and frankly, the show of unity from communities, together defeated the challenges that we’ve seen,” Rowley told reporters.

While anti-racism protesters marched carrying banners with slogans like “Refugees Welcome” and “No to Hate”, no large far-right gatherings were reported, only smaller groups.

Police said several dozen people had thrown bottles and tried to cause disruption in the southern English town of Croydon, while in Northern Ireland, bins were set on fire in Belfast and authorities said they dealt with a number of race-related hate crime incidents.

Rowley said police had continued to make raids and arrest violent offenders on Thursday morning, including many with criminal backgrounds. Over 400 people in total have been arrested across the country since the start of the riots.

“Any suggestion they’re patriots, or they’ve got a cause… is nonsense,” Rowley said. “They’re criminals, and frankly, most of them are going to be charged with violent disorder, and most of them are going to go to prison for a few years.”

Policing minister Diana Johnson said on Thursday she remained cautious about the situation.

“There are consequences for the criminality on our streets, and I think that swift justice that we’re seeing is also helping to make people think twice about getting involved,” Johnson told Sky News.