'Do the right thing and go': Yorkshire Labour politicians tell Sir Keir Starmer to quit over local elections

Voters went to the polls in eight councils across the region, as well as in London, Wales and Scotland, in the biggest vote since the 2024 general election.

In Hull and Sheffield, Labour only held onto three councillors out of 47 up for election, with the party squeezed by both Reform UK and the Greens.

There were big scalps across the region, with Sheffield leader Tom Hunt and Leeds deputy leader Jonathan Pryor both losing.

In Leeds, Labour narrowly lost its majority, while in Wakefield the party was wiped out.

Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees were still to declare as this paper went to print, but similar results are expected in those areas for Sir Keir’s party.

Nigel Farage hailed the elections as a “historic shift in British politics”. Meanwhile, Hull’s Labour leader Coun Daren Hale called on the Prime Minister to resign.

He said: “I think Keir Starmer needs to look at these results, reflect upon them and do the right thing and go, because in a sense he owes it to the party.

“No one is bigger than the Labour Party and in a sense he’s failed to get the message across and this is serious for the Labour Party. The Labour Party has got to act.”

Normanton and Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett, whose constituency in the Wakefield district has been taken over by Reform councillors, said the Prime Minister should go “in months”.

“The pride of one individual cannot be more important than the future of so many communities and community councils up and down the country,” he told LBC.

“He needs to go … I say within months and then the party and the Government can move onto a new phase.”

Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary, described the results as devastating, and said: “We've got to be honest, the prime minister and national issues came up on nearly every doorstep."

She told the BBC that “unless the government delivers significant and urgent change the PM can't lead us into another election".

Sheffield Coun Minesh Parekh said that the Prime Minister should quit “today or tomorrow”.

Sir Steve Houghton, who has led Barnsley for 30 years, was reelected, but Labour lost control for the first time since the borough was created in 1974.

He stopped short of calling for Sir Keir to go, but told The Yorkshire Post: “I think the Labour Party has to have a long, hard look at itself. If it changes Prime Minister and carries on in the same vein, you’ll get the same results next year.

“It has to change strategically what it’s about and what it’s looking at. I come back to, in our part of the world, those left-behind places getting a new economic deal, then you’ll start to address some of that angst and some of that concern.”

Sir Keir took responsibility for the losses, but said that he is “not going to walk away”.

“The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it … that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.”

He added: “The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved.

“I was elected to meet those challenges but I’m not going to walk away from those challenges.”

The Yorkshire Post understands that Cabinet ministers are prepared to quit to force out Sir Keir if the results are bad.

It comes amid rumblings of a potential leadership tilt by Wes Streeting, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Allies of Ms Rayner are confident she would be able to gain the support of the 81 MPs required to launch a challenge – a number which Mr Streeting is also said to have met, though neither are said to want to be the first to move.

Labour sources suggested that the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is said to favour Mr Burnham, although he would have several logistical obstacles to clear before even returning to Westminster should he seek to mount a bid for No 10.

MPs in the North West are prepared to step aside for the Greater Manchester Mayor, it is understood, to allow him a swift return to the Commons.