Keir Starmer has been told to “change or die” after last week’s humiliating election results. A senior Labour MP has warned that under Sir Keir the party has lost its connection to its working-class base.
Dan Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton, said: “People have had enough.” Another MP said Sir Keir’s Winter Fuel cut is Labour’s “Poll Tax problem”.
The Prime Minister has come under intense pressure after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK turfed Labour out the formerly safe Labour seat of Runcorn and Helsby.
Reform also scooped two mayoralties and secured 677 council seats as Labour and the Tories crumbled.
Labour MPs have warned Sir Keir that the party was heading for oblivion if he did not regain the “trust of the people”
In an article for The Mail on Sunday, Mr Carden wrote: “It was the working class that turned its back on Labour last Thursday.
“They understand that the present system is not working in their interests. People feel abandoned? They look at Westminster and see strangers in charge.”
It comes as a poll finds that most voters expect Mr Farage to become the next Prime Minister.
According to the survey by Find Out Now, 63% of people think that Mr Farage will win the keys to No10 at the next election – more than double the 31% who back Sir Keir, and over ten times the 6% who think Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will turn around her party’s fortunes.
Labour backbenchers say that the party’s loss of connection to its blue-collar base is being exacerbated by a lack of decisive leadership.
Bassetlaw MP Jo White, the chair of Labour’s Red Wall group, said: “After a good kicking at elections, the usual response from the ruling party is that we are listening. But this isn’t going to wash.
“Labour needs a reset. Sir Keir Starmer needs to start showing [strong] leadership and stop the Government pussyfooting around. He should take a leaf out of President Trump’s book by following his instincts and issuing some executive orders.”
Ms White added that the Government’s decision to strip more than ten million pensioners of their winter fuel payments had become “our poll tax problem”.
