Enda Brady: UK correspondent on whether Starmer's leadership is under threat after local elections

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is up against it, with growing calls for a leadership challenge.

Labour had disastrous local election results, with right-wing party Reform making huge gains.

UK Labour MP Catherine West says she will trigger a challenge to Starmer's leadership if Cabinet doesn't.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says the results are a vote against Starmer.

"People don't know who he is, people don't know what he stands for, nothing has changed. This summer will mark two years of him being in power and he hasn't delivered the change people wanted." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks edbh.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Over to the UK Now with thanks for getting worse
for the Prime minister. On top of the menals and saga,
Sukia Stamer has led to the Labor Party to a
spectacular loss in the local elections. They've lost whiles one
of their most secure areas. Meanwhile, Reform have picked up
one thousand, four hundred and fifty council seats, which is

(00:32):
pretty impressive to tell us more. UK correspondent Inda Brady
joins me, Now, good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Good morning, Francesca, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Okay, sum up the outcome of the election for me, So, I.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Think what we're seeing really is a splintering of UK politics.
Left right is gone, the center has kind of collapsed,
and we're seeing people looking for alternatives and a lot
of people are looking towards Reform UK and Nigel Farage,
and I think it's very very bad news for Kier Starmer.
So we're seeing Labor lose approximately twelve hundred council seats

(01:10):
across England. They've fared really badly in the Scottish parliamentary elections.
And the Welsh Senate as well. Labor have lost Wales
to Pliedcumery, which is the Welsh Nationalist Party, and ultimately
the knives are now out for care Starmer. The clock
is ticking.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
So why the switch and support? Is it a vote
against Labor or a vote for reform?

Speaker 3 (01:35):
I think it's absolutely a vote against Labor against Caer Starmer.
People don't know who he is, people don't know what
he stands for. Nothing has changed. I mean we're coming up,
you know, this summer will mark two years of him
being in power, and there's no hope. He hasn't offered hope.
He hasn't delivered the change people wanted. And I think

(01:57):
there's an immense frustration out there, cost of living crisis.
Energy Here is getting more and more expensive. Life is
getting more expensive and here Starmer. You know, I think
fundamentally he's a good man, he's a decent human being.
But he's not a politician. He is a lawyer, he's
a human rights lawyer. He takes a long time to
make a decision. And Nigel Farage is putting himself up.

(02:21):
There is a really kind of you know, snappy, snappy
guy who is going to make change quickly, and Starmer
has just fallen by the wayside. So I think what
we're seeing now is the beginning of the end of
the Starmer era, such as it was.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
And then, of course is the question how much longer
he's got Cidy takes responsibility. He's aware of the state
that labors in. After the election, he said it's time
to reflect and respond whatever that means. But has he done.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, Look he's toast today. He has invited in Gordon Brown.
They had a meeting at Downing Street. Gordon Brown was
Prime Minister from after the Blair years up until the
Cameron era arrived, and he's given Gordon Brown a government position,
a special envoy for will Finance. He's also brought in
Baroness Harrius Harmon. She is a Labor grandee of old

(03:15):
and he's bringing back really kind of old figures from
labor thinking that they can ignite the future. And it's bad.
It is not in any way good or positive or
forward looking. And I think what we're going to see
now is death by a thousand cuts and people slowly
putting their hand up and saying, you know what, I

(03:36):
can lead a Labor party if you get him out
and get me in. I can get you a victory
in three years time.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Ah, but that is the question, isn't it. I mean,
you only get rid of a leader if there is
another really good one, an obvious one really to step up,
is there?

Speaker 3 (03:52):
So you got three figures to look out for. The
Health Secretary west streeting he's got the numbers already. His
people are briefing journalists saying that he has the numbers
to move against the Prime minister. You've got Angela Reiner,
former Deputy Prime Minister. Her people are saying that she
too has the numbers. And then you got this kind
of dark horse in Andy Burnham, currently Mayor of Manchester,

(04:16):
not even a member of Parliament. He will have to
get into Parliament and then start making moves. They are
the three kind of figures to watch out for. But
I think we're watching the end of days here for
kir Starmer. We are.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
I see that m P Catherine wish to see that
she'll seek to trigger a leadership contest if a cabinet
minister doesn't launch a challenge to the Prime Minister by manday.
Do you think that's likely?

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah? So, look, she might be able to trigger a challenge.
She has no hope whatsoever. The public don't know who
she is. They know who Wes Streeting is because he's
the Health Secretary, they know who Rayner is because she
was formerly Deputy Prime Minister. And Andy Burnham has a very
high profile gig in being mayor of Manchester. But look,
Catherine West ain't gonna kill care Starmer. The other three

(05:00):
will this election.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
It looks like a big shift away from the two
big patties system, which we're seeing him ling in various
places around the world.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yes, massively so. And I think what we're seeing right
now is the fragmentation of UK politics. And you have
Nigel Farage, you know very I would say, Look, as
much as some people love him, an awful lot of
people hate him. He is the most consequential British politician
of this century. He was fundamentally responsible for Brexit. But

(05:32):
as someone said to me recently, can you believe they're
going to put the guy who burnt the house down
back in charge of the new house? And that's where
we're at.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
The Army of it is is that Nigel Farage is
the establishment. He's probably one of the longest politicians around
and yet he's managed to present himself as this new option,
the new choice.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yes. Look, he's very very middle class, privately educated, worked
as a hedge fund manager. He's a multi millionaire. There
are questions over his finances. There was an allegation recently
of five million pounds sterling that's approximately ten million ENZ
dollars being paid for his private security by a British

(06:17):
multimillionaire living in Thailand. That was not declared. There's a
lot of questions about Farage. But he's a great communicator
and when you walk down the streets, look, I travel
around the UK, I would probably say I see more
of the UK than the Prime Minister does. People come
up to me. They want to talk about what's going
on and how their lives are and how things need

(06:39):
to change. Starmer needs to get out there. He needs
to start speaking to real people, and he needs to
start offering hope because right now, I think a lot
of people are just looking at the world right now,
energy pricing, cost of living crisis, and they don't see
any hope and they blame him for it.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Do you think that you know, obviously reformed the biggest winner,
But does that necessarily mean that the British people want
to see Nigel Farag's Prime minister.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
I'm not sure. I mean, he's got a lot of
ideas and he wants to clamp down on migration into
the UK. He has some very strange views on a
lot of things. I mean, some people have accused him
of being pro Putin or Russia friendly. He's certainly not
massively pro Ukraine. We know that much. He's got some

(07:28):
strange views. He's a very charismatic man. He's intelligent, he's
a great communicator, and I think Labor need to realize
that there now in the fight of their lives. We've
got three years until the next general election, so you
can consider this kind of like a midterm moment to
borrow from American politics, and I think what we're seeing

(07:51):
now ultimately next parliament will be a hung parliament and
a two can build the best coalition. And if I
was Leader of Labor right now, I'd be out there
fixing the National Health Service, getting people doctor's appointments, fixing potholes,
stopping migrants coming across illegally in Dinghies from France, and

(08:12):
you know, just making life a little bit more livable
for people from this country who feel so so forgotten
and downtrodden.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Inder Brady, as always, thank you so much for your
time this.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Morning, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin. Listen
live to News Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
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