TL;DR
Labour-supporting unions predict that Keir Starmer will not lead the party into the next general election, suggesting a need for new leadership. A joint statement from 11 unions is expected to call for a leadership plan amid internal divisions.
Keir Starmer will not lead his party into the next general election, Labour-supporting unions have predicted, in an intervention that threatens to further destabilise the prime minister after a damaging few days.
The 11 Labour-affiliated unions – which include Unite, Unison and the GMB – are expected to issue a joint statement on Wednesday saying “at some stage” the party will have to put a plan in place to elect a new leader.
At a private meeting on Tuesday, the unions were divided over whether to call for Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure, with one source telling the Guardian there had been a “big fight” among union officials.
However, they are understood to have agreed to issue a statement saying they expect there to be a change of leadership, despite GMB and Community arguing it was not in the unions’ best interests to get involved in leadership wrangling.
In a leaked copy of the statement, the unions said it was clear to them that Labour “cannot continue on its current path”, and despite some progress it was not doing enough to deliver the change people voted for at the last election.
They urged the party leadership to focus on the “fundamental change of direction on economic policy and political strategy” they said working people needed, rather than the “personalities and unfolding political drama” at Westminster.
Starmer was increasingly confident that he had seen off the immediate threat to his job on Tuesday after a challenge from Wes Streeting failed to materialise despite several of the health secretary’s allies quitting the government.
But the prime minister’s fragile authority has been weakened by the resignation of four ministers – three of them close allies of Streeting – in what appeared to be an orchestrated move. More than 90 Labour MPs have also called for him to go since the weekend.
Starmer, who told his cabinet he would fight on as prime minister after a turbulent few days, was hoping that his second king’s speech on Wednesday would be another reset moment for the government to help unite his deeply divided party.
While he appears to have survived for now, even his most loyal ministers have privately acknowledged that he is unlikely to take Labour into the next election, unless he can dramatically turn round his and the government’s fortunes.
In their draft statement, which is due to be released on Wednesday, the union general secretaries wrote: “Labour’s affiliated unions have been clear that Labour cannot continue on its current path.
“Whilst we recognise progress has been made, such as aspects of the Employment Rights Act and the increase in the minimum wage, the results at the election last week were devastating.