Keir Starmer is bracing for a Labour catastrophe today as millions of Brits go to the polls.
The PM voted alongside wife Victoria in central London this morning as he faces a moment of maximum peril – with thousands of council seats up for grabs, as well as the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
In a sign of how bad Labour believes things could get, activists are being given extraordinary advice not to cry on camera as the results come in.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir’s allies have been drawing up a desperate survival strategy for the aftermath.
Government sources said the premier is planning to give a major speech on Monday, where he could try to appease mutinous MPs by pledging to go further in unwinding Brexit.
There is also ongoing wrangling within Downing Street over whether to launch a reshuffle on Saturday, potentially before the final results are even in.
Keir Starmer voted alongside wife Victoria at Westminster Chapel in central London this morning as he faces a moment of maximum peril
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One aide told the Daily Mail the idea was getting a ‘lot of traction’ and any overhaul would need to be complete before Sir Keir’s speech.
But they suggested the PM was too weak to make any big moves, and Angela Rayner is still in negotiations with HMRC over unpaid tax.
‘What’s the point of a reshuffle if you’re just going to sack Liz Kendall and Peter Kyle,’ they said. ‘It doesn’t move the dial.’
The elections look set to shake the foundations of Britain’s two-party system, with voters set to vent their anger with Labour and the Conservatives by backing Reform and the Greens in large numbers.
Labour could suffer its worst ever round of local elections, losing more than 1,500 council seats in England and battling to avoid coming third in Scotland and Wales.
A More in Common poll has suggested the party will be ousted from its Birmingham City Council bastion by Reform, while the Greens are looking at huge gains in London.
Nigel Farage boasted at a campaign rally in St Helens, Merseyside, last night that Labour would be ‘wiped out’ in Red Wall areas in the North and the Midlands.
The PM’s rivals have been holding fire to see the scale of the meltdown.
Many suspect the outpouring of emotion will be great enough to sweep Sir Keir out of power – even though there is no consensus around a successor.
Alongside Ms Rayner’s ongoing tax issues, another often-cited candidate, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, is not even in the Commons currently.
Almost 25,000 candidates are fighting to be elected to more than 5,000 seats on 136 councils across England.
In Scotland, all 129 seats are up for election at Holyrood while voters in Wales will choose 96 members of the Senedd.
Ahead of polling day, Sir Keir said: ‘In tough times, you need politicians who will always stand up for you and your family. Time and again Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski have shown they are not fit to meet this moment of great global instability.
‘Today I pledge firmly to you: whatever the pressure, Labour will always back you and your family and we will never waver from doing what is in Britain’s national interest.
‘Today, choose unity over division. Vote Labour.’
MPs are reportedly moving to oust the Prime Minister in the wake of the results.
Backbenchers from the 2024 intake are plotting to write a missive blaming the Prime Minister for expected losses at the polls and asking him to set a date for his departure, according to the Times newspaper.
The move would echo the drafting of a round-robin letter by normally loyal Labour MPs calling for Sir Tony Blair to step down in September 2006.
