Starmer admits ‘unnecessary mistakes’ but rejects calls to quit as Brown and Harman given new roles – UK politics live
Starmer: government made ‘unnecessary mistakes’
Starmer said he would be “setting out with clarity the convictions and values that drive me” in the coming days, as he seeks to reset his leadership.
Speaking from south London this afternoon, he said the government has made “unnecessary mistakes”.
“One of which was that we, rightly in my view, levelled with the public about the challenges that we face as a country both on the finances and internationally – but what we didn’t do is enough to convince them about the change that would impact them, how their lives would be better.
“The hope wasn’t there enough in the first two years of this government.
“That’s why it’s important for me now to set out where hope resides. It resides in our young people having the future to go as far as their talent or ability will take them – to genuinely have that because if you’ve grown up in poverty, you don’t get that chance.”
Key events
The Press Association has reported the first election result today, in Barnsley, where there were multiple recounts in the Penistone West ward.
After four separate counts in that ward, Reform has won control of the traditional Labour stronghold in South Yorkshire with 42 seats.
Labour came second with 11 seats – losing 35 – followed by Liberal Democrats with eight and independents with two.
Welsh Labour announces interim leader
Welsh Labour has announced Ken Skates will serve as its interim leader.
Eluned Morgan resigned from the role yesterday after losing her seat in the Senedd.
Skates will serve as leader until a timetable is set for a full leadership election, the party said.
“Today is just the beginning of a process that will help us to understand what we got wrong. Because we did get it wrong,” Skates said.
“There is no reading of this result that endorses every action we have taken as a party and our task now is to take the time needed and to work out what has happened.
“It is a task that will require every single one of us to take part in – every member, every councillor, every MS, MP, Lord and all roles in between.
“But it is not a task that is beyond us.”
Skates, first elected in 2011, has held several Welsh government roles including transport secretary and economy and infrastructure secretary. He was re-elected to the Senedd for Fflint Wrecsam yesterday.
Most Labour members think Starmer cannot revive party fortunes, poll finds
The majority of Labour members say they do not believe Keir Starmer can turn around the party’s fortunes, while 45% say the prime minister should step down.
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, was the first preference for 42% of members, who were asked to rank their preferred successor.
Several Labour MPs – especially those who are close to Burnham – have told the Guardian that they would like to see a timetable for Starmer to stand down in an orderly and dignified way, including allowing the mayor time to seek a parliamentary seat.
The poll was conducted just before Thursday’s elections, where Labour was fighting on all fronts, in local elections in England and parliamentary elections in Wales and Scotland.
Among members, the poll found Burnham has a net favourability of 72%, suggesting he would be likely to win any leadership contest that he was allowed to contest. Burnham cannot run while he is denied the chance to run for parliament, which has been blocked by Labour’s governing national executive committee (NEC).
The poll of more than 1,000 party members shows a sharp rise in the number of members dissatisfied with Starmer’s leadership – in October just 28% said the prime minister should resign if Labour suffered poor election results in May.
Read more here:
We’ve got a bit more from Swinney, who says it is vital to ensure the Scottish Parliament is “Farage-proofed”.
Nigel Farage is now galloping towards Downing Street and the prospect of a Reform-led government is more likely than not. The UK may well soon have a prime minister who is openly hostile to minority groups, who has called for the privatisation of the NHS and the abolition of the Scottish Parliament.
It is vital that we unite in Scotland to ensure our parliament is fully Farage-proofed. That means having the power before 2029 to decide our own constitutional future without Farage being able to block us.
The alternative future for Scotland is as an independent country with the greatest security and prosperity offered by EU membership, and making our vast energy wealth work for the people of Scotland. I will have more to say on the way forward on independence in the coming days and weeks.
Swinney: Reform UK will be locked out of Scottish government
Scotland’s first minister John Swinney has said he will engage with other parties at Holyrood to form a majority government to ensure Reform UK is “locked out”.
Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh, Swinney said:
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party have won seats in the Scottish Parliament.
While I obviously recognise that some people in Scotland support Reform, there is no doubt that many of our fellow Scots will today be feeling very unsettled by the prospect of a party taking seats in the Scottish Parliament which holds such hostility to minority groups in our country.
So, I want to reaffirm today the commitment I made when I took office.
I will build a Scotland where everyone feels seen, where everyone feels at home and where everyone is able to contribute to Scotland’s story.
I believe that the vast majority of MSPs in this new parliament share that aspiration. So, my immediate commitment, as I promised during the campaign, is to ensure that Nigel Farage and Reform are locked out of governance in Scotland.
I will be engaging in talks with other opposition parties in the coming days to ensure that this happens and that there can be a stable and inclusive approach to governance.
Away from domestic politics, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed a Royal Navy warship is being sent to the Middle East to be ready to join an international mission to safeguard shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon will “pre-position” in the region, ready to join the UK and French-led initiative once hostilities cease between Iran and US-Israeli forces.
The proposed mission championed by Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron would involve a coalition of nations willing to ensure freedom of navigation in the strait, a vital route for global oil and gas supplies along with other goods including fertiliser.
A MoD spokesman said:
We can confirm that HMS Dragon will deploy to the Middle East to pre-position ahead of any future multinational mission to protect international shipping when conditions allow them to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait, when conditions allow.
Ap Iorwerth aiming for minority Plaid Cymru government
Bethan McKernan is the Guardian’s Wales correspondent
Wales’s stirring national anthem, mae hen wlad fy nhadau – the land of my fathers – rang out across a sunny Cardiff Bay on Saturday afternoon as Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader and Wales’s likely new first minister, took to the steps of the Senedd, flanked by more than 40 of the party’s new Senedd members.
Amid applause, the Plaid leader confirmed that his party would seek to form a minority government.
Under Wales’s new, more representative electoral system, at least 49 seats are needed for a majority. No party was likely to win that, but Friday’s result of 43 seats for Plaid Cymru put it in a strong position ahead of cooperation talks on legislation with other parties.
Ap Iorwerth said:
I have tried to make it as clear as I can throughout the course of the campaign, and prior to that, that I am somebody who always seeks to work within the spirit of co-operation.
I made it clear that my desire, if we were able to, would be to form a minority Plaid Cymru government.
He added it is “clear now that we are in that position”.
Mapped: how Labour lost ground in different directions
As we’ve been reporting, Labour suffered heavy losses across England, Scotland and Wales, losing ground to opponents on the left and the right in a fragmented political system.
The graphics in this piece form my colleagues Alex Clark, Ashley Kirk and Michael Goodier show where Labour’s losses were most severe, and how the electoral landscape has changed as a result.
We have also heard from the leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwert, who hailed a “new beginning” after Labour was booted from power in Wales after 27 years.
He said no prime minister “can cast Wales aside or turn a blind eye to our needs” in a victory speech on the steps of the Senedd in Cardiff.
“This is history made by the people of Wales,” he said.
“It has been an honour to work on this campaign, but this campaign could only build on the work that has been done over a century of believing in our nation’s future.”
Downing Street has released some images of Keir Starmer’s talks this morning with Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman, both of whom have been given new jobs in government:
Starmer: government made ‘unnecessary mistakes’
Starmer said he would be “setting out with clarity the convictions and values that drive me” in the coming days, as he seeks to reset his leadership.
Speaking from south London this afternoon, he said the government has made “unnecessary mistakes”.
“One of which was that we, rightly in my view, levelled with the public about the challenges that we face as a country both on the finances and internationally – but what we didn’t do is enough to convince them about the change that would impact them, how their lives would be better.
“The hope wasn’t there enough in the first two years of this government.
“That’s why it’s important for me now to set out where hope resides. It resides in our young people having the future to go as far as their talent or ability will take them – to genuinely have that because if you’ve grown up in poverty, you don’t get that chance.”
Starmer: ‘I’m not going to walk away from this’
Keir Starmer is now speaking to the BBC on Labour’s losses in the election.
“I’m not going to walk away from this, that would plunge the country into chaos,” the prime minister said.
“But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to respond. It doesn’t mean we don’t need to rebuild. It doesn’t mean that we don’t need to set out the path ahead.
“That’s what I’m going to do in the coming days.”
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