‘Better the devil you know’: former Labour voters in Birmingham unsure about replacing Starmer

As Keir Starmer faces the prospect of a leadership challenge, former Labour voters in a Birmingham constituency were last week feeling nervous about what could come next.

A month ago, the group from Birmingham Yardley had very little good to say about the prime minister, comparing him to a rat or a donkey. They said they felt he had let them down.

But the same constituents sounded distinctly worried about the idea of Labour MPs getting rid of Starmer when they gathered for a second focus group convened by More in Common in the week of the local elections.

Bob, an engineering manager, summed up what several members felt. “I don’t know if it would be better off without him, because it’s like, at the moment things aren’t good, but things could always get worse and you don’t really know.

“Sometimes it’s better the devil you know than whoever you don’t. Not that we know him, because he doesn’t say much.”

Emma, who works in a special educational needs school, spoke up in agreement: “I was going to say the same thing, the same phrase, better the devil you know sometimes.”

When discussing the alternatives, another member, Terry, a secondary school teacher, identified some of the possible contenders to replace Starmer and described two of them favourably – but he still wasn’t completely sure about the idea. “There’s Angela Rayner, his old deputy, and there’s – what’s his name? – the king of the north guy.”

He said Rayner and Andy Burnham were “very working class but they’re also very much more relatable”. But, he added: “As Bob says, would things actually be better? We don’t know what Keir Starmer’s doing … he may be a genius behind the scenes, and he may be actually the only thing keeping us out of an actual war. But all we hear about is the Mandelson scandal, and this scandal and that scandal … He needs to be more forthright about the good. If it was me, I’d be shouting the good all the time.”

Terry also raised the lingering memory of the mistakes Starmer made in his first months in power: “We’ve still got the bad taste of when they tried to take money from the pensioners when they first came in.”

A similar uncertainty about replacing Starmer was also expressed by Dean, a lorry driver, in spite of the Mandelson scandal and the impact it had on people’s respect for Starmer. “I think he’s managed to worm his way out of that one. Should he quit over it? I don’t know. Because you’re not going to find a perfect prime minister.”

Despite the qualms about Labour replacing Starmer, the group was still keen to see change. “I feel like we should shake it up a little bit,” said Kayla, who works in retail, and described her frustration that “everything’s going up – petrol, going out – apart from our wages.”

The group discussed their continuing sense of being utterly fed up with cost of living pressures and gave no indication that things had improved over the last month, with the Iran war dragging on.

Dan, a younger member of the group, said he was attracted to Reform but just wanted a more effective administration. “People want change, so whether you go Green or Reform, it’s something different. We don’t want the status quo to stay the same, we want change, so people are going to pick one of the two.”

He added: “If someone came out from any party tomorrow and said, we’re going to fix all the potholes, I’m going to take care of the rubbish from now on, they’d have my vote immediately. Doesn’t matter what party.”

Two others in the group – Terry and Emma – had a positive view of the Greens. Terry thought Zack Polanski was “very outspoken, he’s very clear in what his message is, and what he stands for”.

He added: “That’s what Labour hasn’t got, that is what’s missing in Labour … it seems that they’re more like Tory-lite now.”

Emma agreed, saying: “They [the Green party] seem to be more for the people, family, wages, the environment, things that impact us more on a day to day basis. Out of all of them, I feel like they give a little bit more hope … It seems like Labour has passed the baton on to the Greens now.”

Despite favouring a leftwing party, Emma did not have strong views against Reform. “If it’s change for the better, then I’m here for it,” she said. “If they come across as strong contenders, sometimes you’ve got to take that risk and hope for the best. If they were to come through and deliver on everything, that would be amazing.”

The voters’ desire for change, but confusion over who was best to carry it out, was borne out in Birmingham more widely. The city’s council is now split Reform, Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens and independents. Deals, compromises and a new way of doing politics in Birmingham will inevitably follow.