{"id":333548,"date":"2026-05-12T19:16:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=333548"},"modified":"2026-05-12T19:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:46:23","slug":"u-k-s-starmer-defiant-as-resignation-calls-grow-and-minister-quits-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/u-k-s-starmer-defiant-as-resignation-calls-grow-and-minister-quits-national\/","title":{"rendered":"U.K.\u2019s Starmer defiant as resignation calls grow and minister quits – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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U.K. Prime Minister\u00a0Keir Starmer\u00a0told members of his Cabinet on Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning as calls inside his Labour Party for him to step down grew louder.<\/p>\n

Starmer is attempting to shore up support inside his Cabinet following a febrile few days within the wake of\u00a0hefty losses\u00a0for the Labour Party in local elections last week, which if repeated in a national election would see it overwhelmingly ejected from power.<\/p>\n

The meeting, which lasted about an hour, took place as around 80 Labour backbenchers, or nearly a fifth of the party\u2019s representation within the House of Commons, said\u00a0Starmer should stand down, or not less than set out a timetable for his departure. Under Labour party rules, 81 lawmakers are needed to formally trigger a leadership contest.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, nobody has yet announced they’ll stand as a\u00a0candidate for the leadership, directly difficult Starmer.<\/p>\n

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On Tuesday, junior minister Miatta Fahnbulleh became the primary member of his government to step down, urging Starmer \u201cto do the suitable thing for the country\u201d and set a timetable for his departure.<\/p>\n

Fahnbulleh, who is taken into account to be on the left of the party, said she was happy with her service, but that the federal government hadn\u2019t acted with the vision, pace and mandate for change it had been given by voters.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNor have we governed as a Labour Party clear about our values and robust in our convictions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Despite winning a\u00a0landslide election victory in July 2024, Labour\u2019s popularity has sunk and Starmer is getting much of the blame.<\/p>\n

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The explanations are varied, including a series of policy missteps, a perceived lack of vision, a struggling British economy and questions over his judgment \u2014 especially over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington despite the envoy\u2019s ties to the convicted sex offender\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

At first of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Starmer said he took responsibility for the losses in last week\u2019s local elections across the U.K. but that he would fight on. Labour was squeezed from right and left, losing votes to each the anti-immigrant Reform UK and the \u201ceco-populist\u201d Green Party, in addition to nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales. The result reflects the increasing fragmentation of U.K. politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.<\/p>\n

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Starmer said that there\u2019s a process to oust a frontrunner and that it hadn\u2019t been triggered.<\/p>\n

Under Labour\u2019s rules, candidates will need to have the support of a fifth of the party\u2019s House of Commons lawmakers \u2014 a number that currently stands at 81.<\/p>\n

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