Sir Keir Starmer has faced calls to step down following big Labour losses in the local elections.
Deputy PM insists there is 'no timetable' for Starmer to resign as Labour leadership battle intensifies Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has insisted Sir Keir Starmer will not set a timetable for resignation, despite calls from within the Labour Party for him to stand down.
Mr Lammy said Labour had scored an “own goal” in the days following the local elections and urged the party to “play in the right direction”, warning it would lose the next general election if it did not. Asked if supporters of Sir Keir should be backing Andy Burnham for the Makerfield by-election, given he wants to challenge the leadership, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “Let’s step back. I’m not going to sugarcoat this.
I thought that the Labour Party over the last 10 days had a spectacular own goal after those local election results. He added: “We need to ensure that these 10 days are brought to an end, because if we get 10 weeks, people will look at us, they will see what happened under the Tories, and we will be out of office in a few years’ time.
”Mr Burnham has said he is prepared to “fight to the highest level”, as he and other senior Labour figures jostle to lead the party in the future. Wes Streeting has called for a “proper contest” to replace Sir Keir and confirmed he would stand if the race is triggered, as he and other senior Labour figures make their pitch to oust the Prime Minister.
In his first public appearance since resigning as health secretary, Mr Streeting set out a fledgling policy platform for a run at the Labour leadership. He said Britain must pursue a “new special relationship” with the European Union and signalled he wanted to see the country rejoin the trade bloc in the future.
Mr Streeting is among the senior Labour figures to call for a debate over the future of the party’s soul, amid the crisis that has engulfed it after a bruising set of election results across England, Scotland and Wales.
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