Sir Keir Starmer has dodged a question on whether he will stand at the next general election. The Prime Minister was asked about his political future during a visit to Albania.
He told GB News: “You’re getting way ahead of me. I’m absolutely clear that my task is to rebuild our country, give us the security that we need, we’re getting on with that. You’ve seen it over the last few days – trade deals with India, with the US, hopefully a trading relationship with the EU, very strong growth figures today reflecting the decisions that we’ve made for interest rate cuts, the actual living wage, waiting lists to come down.”
It comes as Labour and the Tories are facing a major challenge from Reform UK ahead of the next general election, due by 2029.
Nigel Farage’s party, which is leading some national opinion polls, made sweeping gains in the local elections across England earlier this month, taking control of 10 councils and hundreds of councillors.
Reform succeeded both in the Conservative shires and traditional Labour northern strongholds.
The insurgent party also picked up a fifth MP in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election and won two mayoral contests.
Sir Keir is in Albania as part of a bid by the Government to crack down on small boats.
The PM used the trip to announce that the Government would begin exploring the possibility of sending failed asylum seekers for processing in third countries prior to deportation.
The announcement comes in the same week that the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats passed 12,000 for the year, putting 2025 on course to be a record year for crossings.
