Sir Keir fails to woo back the Red Wall

SIR Keir Starmer’s stuttering leadership was laid bare in an “underwhelming” local election performance.

Despite victories in London, Labour failed to woo Red-Wall voters who deserted the party under Jeremy Corbyn.

Election guru Professor Sir John Curtice said the results show Sir Keir is not in a position to win a general election majority.

He said Labour had performed worse in much of the country than it did four years ago under Mr Corbyn.

And he said there was “very little sign” of Labour making progress in Brexit-backing areas of the North and Midlands which fell to the Conservatives in 2019.

Prof Curtice told the BBC: “The Conservatives are still much stronger in Leave areas, and therefore Labour is still struggling to make more progress there.”

Labour flopped in historic working-class heartlands – and went backwards in Sunderland, Tyneside, Hartlepool, Nuneaton,

Sandwell and Amber Valley. The party’s prized Kingstonupon-Hull Council fell to the Lib Dems.

But Sir Keir was defiant. He said: “This is a big turning point for us. From the depths of 2019 in that general election, back on track, winning in the north. Cumberland! Southampton! We’ve changed Labour and now we’re seeing the results of that.”

‘On track’… a defiant Sir Keir

But the Left-wing campaign group Momentum said the figures were “underwhelming”.

And Thangam Debbonaire, a shadow minister, admitted voters were “not necessarily all jumping up and down and saying ‘yes I’ll vote Labour”.

Tory chair Oliver Dowden said Labour “are certainly not on the path to power”.