IT’S A BYE BYE BY ELECTION
Labour leader Starmer demands Sunak make way as Red Wall seat falls and PM is humiliated in his own back yard
KEIR Starmer yesterday declared the country is desperate for change as the Tories suffered catastrophic local election results.
The Labour leader said voters are crying out for a general election as he toasted victories that put him on course for No10, including the Blackpool South by-election.
He said the message to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was “make way”, adding: “We want that general election and we are confident going into that general election.
“What this by-election shows is the country wants change.”
The PM was even humiliated in his own back yard as Labour’s David Skaith won the race to become York and North Yorkshire Mayor.
Starmer said it was a “special moment” as he held a rally in Northallerton in the PM’s constituency last night.
Deflated Sunak admitted the election results were “disappointing” but insisted at the general election, voters “are going to stick with us”. Labour took councils in key election battlegrounds including Hartlepool, County Durham and Bedworth, West Midlands – a general election bellwether.
The Tories lost a total of more than 400 council seats.
But Sunak appears to have escaped a fresh push to oust him after Tory Ben Houchen clung on as Tees Valley Mayor. Andy Street may also avoid defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race today. In Blackpool South, Labour’s Chris Webb became MP with a 26.3 per cent swing, the third largest from the Tories to Labour at a by-election since World War II.
But Labour did not perform as well in some areas with large Muslim populations.
A backlash over the party’s stance on Gaza is believed to have cost it control of Oldham council. Starmer admitted he was “concerned wherever we lose votes” and intended to win them back.
No10 was braced for the possibility Tory MPs might launch a bid to remove Sunak. But yesterday, critics suggested there would be no point.
Andrea Jenkyns, the first Tory MP to publicly submit a letter of no confidence in Sunak, conceded it was “unlikely” her colleagues will trigger a leadership election. Lee Anderson, the Reform MP who defected from the Tories, said: “Rishi Sunak could fly over the UK in a helicopter and drop £1million down every chimney and they’d still vote him out.”
Votes will today be counted in mayor races including London, where Sadiq Khan could become the first person to win a third term.