LIVE: Starmer challenges Labour rebels as he refuses to quit

Sir Keir Starmer told his Cabinet that a leadership challenge ‘has not been triggered’ and ‘the country expects us to get on with governing’.

In a statement released by Downing Street, the Prime Minister told a meeting of the Cabinet:

As I said yesterday, I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised. The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families.

The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered. The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.

Peter Kyle said Sir Keir Starmer was showing “really steadfast leadership” as he left the Cabinet meeting.

Speaking to reporters in Downing Street, Mr Kyle said:

We had a very purposeful Cabinet meeting talking about the big issues facing our economy and society. Nothing has been triggered.

I’m about to go off to Brussels to continue working with Brussels to deepen the relationship, to benefit Britain.

We are working hard on the big issues that are facing the country and Keir is showing really steadfast leadership.

Liz Kendall has said Sir Keir Starmer has her ‘full support’ following the Cabinet meeting earlier this morning.

She told reporters on Downing Street:

The Prime Minister talked about the challenges we faced as a country, the crisis in the middle east and the impact on the cost of living here.

And look, this government will do what we were elected to do which is serve the British people. The Prime Minister has my full support in this.

Let me just say this; there is a process to challenge the leader, nobody has made that challenge and what people would expect me to do is to focus on how we can grow the economy, tackle the cost of living and give them a better life.

Pat McFadden said nobody challenged Sir Keir Starmer to go at the Cabinet meeting.

Speaking to reporters outside Downing Street, the Work and Pensions Secretary said the Government should ‘carry on.’

Asked whether anyone challenged him at the meeting, he said: ‘They didn’t.’

ITV Political Editor Robert Peston has described today as Wes Streeting’s ‘moment in history’ as the Health Secretary faces the prospect of publicly challenging Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership

Mr Peston says the next move will be crucial as Mr Streeting has made clear he both wants to be the next prime minister but does not want to be seen as the ‘first mover’ in an attempted coup against Sir Keir.

In an analysis on X, he wrote:

For Streeting this is a bit of a nightmare.

If he does challenge Starmer he may lose and wreck his political career. And if he doesn’t challenge Starmer in a formal contest, he may alienate his supporters, who have stuck their heads above the parapet at great potential cost to their political futures, and that may fatally damage his leadership prospects forever.

It’s Streeting’s moment in history. How will he shape it?

Reeves arrives in Downing Street earlier today

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pulled out of an event in the City of London on Tuesday morning, the Treasury has confirmed.

Ms Reeves was due to take part in a ‘fireside chat’ with the Lady Mayor of London at the City’s global risks summit after attending Cabinet.

Her place will now be taken by Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.

Labour MP John Slinger says he’s ‘glad’ to see Sir Keir Starmer is refusing to resign as Prime Minister.

‘He won the election, he has the mandate, he’s a good leader & he should stay PM,’ Mr Slinger wrote on X.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed has called on Labour to ‘unite’ behind Sir Keir Starmer after the PM insisted he was going nowhere.

Mr Reed said the instability provoked by leadership speculation is ‘not a game’ and has ‘consequences’ for people’s lives.

UK borrowing costs rose today, with 30-year gilts surging to 28-year highs

Britain was brutally pummeled by markets today as Labour chaos looks set to sweep away Keir Starmer.

The UK’s borrowing costs surged to 28-year highs with traders taking fright at the prospect of a lurch to the Left, heaping pressure on the public finances.

The Pound also weakened against the US dollar and euro, while the blue-chip FTSE 100 dropped.

Just two years after they came to power boasting of a new era of stability, a Labour civil war is gearing up as the PM’s grip falters in the wake of the local elections.

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by Mark Duell, Deputy Chief Reporter (Digital)

With Keir Starmer facing mounting calls to resign, it seems like the chances of the Prime Minister leading his party into the next election are approaching zero.

And social media users are reacting to Sir Keir’s premiership entering freefall today as they post a series of tongue-in-cheek memes making light of the situation.

Some compared his situation to the Black Knight from Monty Python, a character who refuses to let King Arthur pass despite having all his limbs chopped off.

Others recalled the famous line ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me’, spoken by Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in the 1964 comedy film Carry On Cleo.

There was a meme of Hugh Grant as the PM in Love Actually, captioned: ‘Centre Left Labour backbenchers reveal their choice to replace Starmer as Prime Minister.’

Another posted an image of Steve McClaren on Sky Sports News, joking that the former England manager was saying ‘he doesn’t think the PM’s going anywhere’.

Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges predicts the situation over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership will become ‘ugly’ after the Prime Minister insisted he was going nowhere.

In a follow up post, Dan says the strategy behind Starmer’s defiance is to split the rebel camps hoping to oust him.

Dan writes: ‘Starmer’s strategy is to try and split the rebels. Challenge Streeting to move, then say to Burnham supporters “force me out if you like, but then you don’t get your man”.’

by James Tapsfield, UK Political Editor

The end looks nigh for Keir Starmer today as he faces a Cabinet showdown amid an overwhelming Labour revolt.

The PM’s grip on power appears to be slipping after members of his top team – said to include Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood – privately urged him to make a graceful exit in the wake of disastrous local elections.

Miatta Fahnbulleh joined the rebellion this morning, becoming the first minister to quit calling for Sir Keir to go.

Significantly, one of Sir Keir’s closest allies Darren Jones said he would not ‘get ahead of any decision’ when asked whether the PM would lead the party into the next election.