Mounting calls for Starmer to resign from MPs, councillors, and unions

As Labour’s staggering defeat in the local elections unfolds, people from across the Labour movement have called on Keir Starmer to resign.

Only this morning, he said:

I’m not going to walk away . . . and plunge the country into chaos.

Earlier today, the Canary covered the voices on both sides of the ‘Starmer should resign’ argument.

However, since then, even more prominent folks have spoken out, and the consensus seems to be – he should quit.

Starmer OUT

Let’s start with Labour MPs.

Ian Lavery joined Ed Miliband and Jonathan Brash in calling on Starmer to leave. Lavery stated that if Starmer did not resign, he thought there would be a leadership election in the “coming weeks”.

Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, also expressed her anger.

She said:

I am sickened that leaders of the Labour party – Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together – destroyed Labour.

They have squandered what could have been transformational change for our constituents, yet they are like ostriches and pretend all is ok.

I’m angry along with others, we need a reset and return to Labour values and policies.

Similarly, Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Middleton South, claimed that Starmer had lost the support of his cabinet.

He told the Manchester Evening News that Starmer should “set a timetable for his exit” rather than quit at once. He added:

The PM is despised on the doorstep for some of the decisions he has taken. Winter fuel allowance is one people immediately think of.

Jon Trickett, MP for Normanton and Hemsworth, has also called on Starmer to quit.

🚨 NEW: Labour MP Jon Trickett has called for Keir Starmer to resign

“The message from my constituency is it’s curtains for Keir”

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 8, 2026

Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, told ITV:

It is a political crisis and unless we face it honestly, it risks becoming terminal.

He also said the question is no longer ‘whether’ Starmer can recover, but:

It is whether by staying on he does lasting damage to Labour’s ability to govern, rebuild trust and stop the advance of the right

This is why a timetable for his departure is now necessary. The longer this is delayed the greater the damage to the party and the country.

Apsana Begum also called on the PM to resign.

Apsana Begum MP has joined calls for the PM to go following Labour’s election results.

Begum warns the party faces an “existential” crisis unless there is a “superspeed change” in both leadership and policy to prevent a future Reform government.

— LabourList (@LabourList) May 8, 2026

He’s lost the unions…

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said that the results show that Labour will not survive unless it shifts “decisively” towards the working class. She said:

We are stuck in a rigged system where everyday people always, always pay.

Only fundamental, irreversible change will stem the tide. If the party does not shift decisively towards the working class it is finished.

It is change or die. Now or never.

Of course, this is not explicitly calling for a new leader, but most of us can read between the lines, given Graham’s previous comments about Labour under Starmer.

Likewise, the heads of both Unison and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) have both demanded that the prime minister step aside.

Andrea Egan, Unison general secretary, said on X:

Labour faces oblivion because it is not delivering for the vast majority of people.

What must change is not just the leader but the entire approach: only a Labour Government which always puts the interests of workers before the wealthy can succeed.

Similarly, Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA, also told the Telegraph:

Unions like the TSSA will not stand by in the wake of this electoral disaster and let Keir Starmer pave the way for a hard-Right government led by Nigel Farage.

It’s safe to say that Keir is cooked. Finished. Done. Either he quits, and the party tries to save itself, or the whole party goes down with him.

And just in case Starmer needs a resignation letter template, we went out of our way to find him some.

Featured image via HG