LIVE: Starmer gives major speech to save his premiership

by James Tapsfield, UK Political Editor

Markets are braced for Labour to lurch dramatically to the Left as Keir Starmer struggles to save himself today.

Jitters have been sparked after Angela Rayner formed an alliance with Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – and laid out a manifesto of higher tax, more handouts and nationalisations.

Interest rates on 10-year gilts, one of the main ways the Government borrows money, ticked up this morning.

Rivals for No10 are circling as the PM’s grip on power weakens, with dozens of MPs openly calling for him to go following disastrous local elections.

He could face a challenge from a ‘stalking horse’ leadership candidate as soon as today, if a ‘vision’ speech at 10am fails to calm the mutiny.

Sir Keir will try to appease the Labour rank-and-file by promising to go further in unwinding Brexit.

Cabinet minister Peter Kyle said Sir Keir Starmer is ‘the right person that needs to lead us through this’ as he defended the Prime Minister remaining in place.

The Business Secretary said he accepts people are ‘fed-up’ following last week’s elections, adding: ‘Our party is convulsed by the results.’

He told Times Radio:

He is the right person that needs to lead us through this. He needs to really meet the moment that we’re in. We all need to support him in that, because he can’t do it alone.

And I’ve said this consistently since opposition, that too often people look to him as one person that can fix every problem.

Pressed on whether he wants eight more years of Sir Keir at the helm, Mr Kyle said:

I want eight years of delivering for the people of this country, led by the Prime Minister that we have now, that is actually delivering.

Angela Rayner unveiled her hard-Left prospectus for power on Sunday night as she launched an extraordinary statement eviscerating the Prime Minister’s record in office

At 5pm, Ms Rayner issued a dramatic 1,000-word statement, unleashing a ferocious attack on Sir Keir’s record in office while demanding a lurch to the hard-Left on policy.

She also demanded that Sir Keir allow Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to become an MP again, but did not make clear if she wanted to stand in any contest.

She instead put Sir Keir on notice, telling him: ‘The Prime Minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs.’

She also condemned the ‘toxic culture of cronyism’ illustrated by the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Westminster has long expected that in a leadership contest, Blairite Mr Streeting would go up against a more Left-wing candidate such as Ms Rayner or Mr Burnham.

by Dan Hodges, Daily Mail Columnist

If you want to be Prime Minister then there is a quality that stands out above all others – courage. And this morning one member of Keir Starmer’s benighted Government is finally displaying it. Wes Streeting.

Yes, the announcement he is finally rising above the parapet and putting himself forward to replace Keir Starmer is attended by a degree of Westminster sophistry. It was communicated via ‘friends’. It contains the modest fig leaf that he will not directly challenge the Prime Minister unless things ‘fall apart’.

But they are falling apart. They’ve been falling apart more or less from the moment Keir Starmer first crossed the threshold of Downing Street. They fell apart for 1,500 Labour councillors last Thursday. And they will fall apart for 70million Britons if Starmer is not swiftly removed from office.

The specific mechanism by which Sir Keir will be dragged out of No 10 is yet to be determined. But members of the Cabinet believe it will be triggered within the next 48 hours.

On Saturday, the Labour Party was stunned when the formerly unobtrusive ex-Foreign Office minister Catherine West announced she would directly challenge Starmer if ministers did not move against him by Monday.

Yesterday it emerged Wes Streeting is preparing a leadership bid, with his allies believing a swift contest represents his best chance.

Allies of Mr Streeting said that while he would not bring Sir Keir down himself, he believed the rebellion will only grow and grow, that the ‘dam will burst’ – and things could soon fall apart.

‘When it does, he is ready,’ said one. ‘He is ready to move.’

The Health Secretary’s supporters were also privately critical of Downing Street’s response to Thursday’s disaster, including the decision to bring back Mr Brown and Baroness Harman.

‘No10 have got every single part of their response wrong,’ one said.

Sir Keir will make his last stand today with a speech that is widely seen as his final chance to convince his party to let him continue. He will say: ‘People need hope. We will face up to the big challenges and we will make the big arguments.’

But he faces the prospect of an immediate leadership battle if surprise ‘stalking horse’ candidate Catherine West gets the required 81 backers – a fifth of Labour MPs – needed to ignite one.

Ms West has indicated she will formally challenge the PM if she is still ‘dissatisfied’ after hearing his latest ‘reset’ speech.

Ms West told the BBC: ‘I will hear what the Prime Minister’s got to say tomorrow and then, if I’m still dissatisfied, I will put out my email to the Parliamentary Labour Party, asking for names.’

She also encouraged women to stand against Sir Keir as there has never been a female Labour leader.

But Cabinet minister Ms Phillipson, sitting next to her in the BBC studio, told her: ‘I love you dearly, Catherine, but I just disagree on this one.’ She also said her colleague’s move was ‘completely wrong’ and doubted if it would go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to our UK politics live coverage as Sir Keir Starmer attempts to save his premiership with a major speech inside Downing Street.

The Prime Minister will oday promise sweeping changes to address the ‘big challenges’ facing the UK with a plan he says will demonstrate ‘hope, urgency’ and set out ‘exactly whose side we are on’.

But is it too late for Sir Keir to save his tenure?

Labour MPs will be encouraged to endorse a leadership challenge if he fails to convince them he can pull the party out of a slump which has seen votes and seats flow to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Zack Polanski’s Green Party.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest throughout the day.