'Keir Starmer’s unpopularity came up again and again' - Sheffield politicians call on PM's resignation
“We can’t go on like this”
Senior Sheffield politicians are calling on the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer after devastating losses in this week’s local election.
The Labour party lost nine seats in Sheffield City Council after a difficult local election for the party.
Reform UK saw major gains, earning 14 new seats, while the Green party toppled council leader Tom Hunt with six new councillors elected.
It follows national trends, which has seen Labour lose 1,406 councillors across the country while Reform UK build on their growing momentum and win 1,442 new seats.
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Neighbouring Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council - which has been controlled by Labour since it was established in 1974 - fell to a Reform UK majority, with only 11 Labour councillors remaining.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been positioned as a major issue for local politicians, with soon-to-be former Barnsley council leader Sir Stephen Houghton - who had held his position for 30 years - saying that voters have been ‘judging us on our colleagues down in Westminster’.
In the wake of these disastrous results for the national governing party, local politicians have made the call for Keir Starmer to resign.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard simply said ‘we can’t go on like this’, while Abtisam Mohamed, MP for Sheffield Central, added: “We need leadership that brings people together. The Prime Minister should now agree a clear transition and timeline for new leadership that can do that.”
See a breakdown of what some of the leading politicians in Sheffield have said after yesterday’s results.
Abtisam Mohamed - Sheffield Central MP
“We need leadership that brings people together. The Prime Minister should now agree a clear transition and timeline for new leadership that can do that,” Abtisam wrote on Facebook overnight.
She explained that the party risks drifting away from the communities they serve, as she calls for a return to ‘real Labour values’.
She added: “This election was shaped more by national issues than local ones, which makes the loss of Tom and Nighat even harder. They served their communities with integrity and real dedication.
“People want change, but too many no longer believe this leadership can deliver it. We cannot keep telling people things are improving when many feel worse off. Keir Starmer’s unpopularity came up again and again on the doorstep.
“The truth is, people don’t want spin, they want to feel better off in their everyday lives: lower bills, affordable food, properly working public services, and security for their families. We can't say one thing and people feel something else.
“We need real Labour values: opportunity for young people, support for small businesses, defending the right to protest and jury trials, standing up for international law consistently and speaking plainly about war crimes being committed in Gaza and the West Bank, and rejecting rhetoric that scapegoats migrants instead of solving problems.
“We need leadership that brings people together. The Prime Minister should now agree a clear transition and timeline for new leadership that can do that.
“I came into politics to fight for real change and that hasn’t changed, but I won’t follow blindly.”
Clive Betts - Sheffield South East MP
Clive Betts told BBC Radio 4 that many voters told him they won’t support the party until there’s a change of leadership.
When asked if Starmer is the right person to lead the party, he added: “In some ways it's not what I think this morning, it's what the electorate were telling us in the last few weeks."
Mr Betts is one of the UK’s longest serving MPs, representing Sheffield for the Labour party since 1992.
Nevertheless the continuing unpopularity of the Prime Minister and his current government threatens to destabilise the consistently safe Labour seat, with wards like Mosborough falling to Reform UK after this week’s election.
The South Sheffield East MP told Radio 4: "That is a real problem going forward - people have made their minds up."
Oliver Coppard - South Yorkshire Mayor
In a message following last night’s results, Oliver Coppard lamented the loss of figures like Tom Hunt, while celebrating the work that Barnsley council has done over its decades in power.
He said that ultimately though, local issues were not at the forefront of voters mind, as the election was a ‘verdict on the government’,
“Time and again over the last few weeks, just like every other Labour campaigner across the country, I’ve heard the same message - people are angry and they’re frustrated,” he wrote on Facebook.
“They don’t believe this government have kept their word. And they aren’t feeling the fundamental change they were promised - that so many people in South Yorkshire so desperately need.
“And for as long as this government fails to recognise the urgency and scale of those demands, that sense of anger will remain.
“Democracy is messy and it is noisy, but ultimately it is up this government to decipher the signal from the noise. If they cannot do that, and quickly, then this will not be last time people across South Yorkshire and across this country make their voices heard loudly, and clearly.
“Government’s that do not listen to the public don’t get to remain the government for very long. And their legitimacy disappears long before their mandate does.
“We can’t go on like this.”