STARMER UNDER PRESSURE AS WALKOUT THREAT LOOMS OVER LABOUR

SIR KEIR Starmer is facing an outbreak of union trouble within his own ranks.

Last week officials from Unite and the GMB announced a ballot on industrial action by Labour Party staff who have been threatened with job cuts.

Both ballots will go ahead next week.

The votes follow proposals to slash 90 roles in the party’s organisation following a cash crisis caused by plummeting membership numbers.

A series of legal cases triggered by the surge in anti-Semitism among sections of the membership is also said to have been a drain on resources.

A GMB organiser explained that the union’s ballot “will ask members if they are willing to strike over compulsory redundancies”.

He added: “If the answer is yes, we will not hesitate to move to a formal strike ballot.”

Labour’s leader will be embarrassed by the threat of a mass walkout in a party that is supposed to champion working people.

Meanwhile, Labour’s membership woes suggest that Starmer’s leadership has failed to enthuse a new generation of supporters to replace hard-Left fans of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn that he has driven out of the party.

Labour’s general secretary David Evans told a gathering of staff this week that the party is adopting a new, slimmed-down structure. He promised that Labour will produce “winning, voter-centric policies” rather than lecturing voters on what they should think.

That will come as a novelty after years of clinging to outdated socialist dogma under Mr Corbyn.

The leadership’s party shake-up plan is known as Organise to Win.

But Starmer’s hopes of building an election-winning force have little hope of ever coming to fruition if he cannot spell out what his party stands for and not just what it is against.

Overturning Mr Corbyn’s toxic legacy is proving to be a tall order for his successor.