Keir Starmer Vows To Prove Critics Wrong After Labour Local Election Defeat

Sir Keir Starmer vowed to prove critics wrong after Labour’s local election defeat, saying the election results last week were “tough, very tough” and that he “take[s] responsibility.”

In central London, the Prime Minister said he knows he has “my doubters” and that he “will” prove them wrong, while also warning the political landscape remains “incredibly volatile and risky.”

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Starmer framed the stakes as avoiding a “stand-off with Iran” and said that if Labour had listened to other parties “right now, we’d be stuck in a stand-off with Iran, having been dragged into a war that is not in our interest.”

He also said the Government must focus on demonstrating “a clearer path forward for the public,” and he described the outcome as “a significant blow.”

Starmer insisted he would not “walk away” from Number 10 as MPs and commentators argued he should step down after local elections saw Reform take more than a 1,000 council seats while Labour lost a similar amount.

The speech also tied the leadership fight to policy, with Starmer pledging to fully nationalise British Steel subject to a public interest test and to rebuild the UK’s relationship with the European Union.

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He warned that the UK would go down “a very dark path” if the government did not start to do better, and he said “Like every government, we’ve made mistakes” while arguing Labour had “got the big political choices right.”

The same report said British Steel is owned by China’s Jingye Group, and that its Scunthorpe steelworks were taken over by the taxpayer last year to prevent their closure.

Starmer confirmed in a BBC 5 Live interview that the United Kingdom will not be drawn into a war with Iran under any pressure, while stressing that it will not support any attempt to seize the Strait of Hormuz.

He said, “I believe it is necessary to open the Strait fully, and that is what our efforts have focused on in the recent period, and we will continue to work on that,” linking the Strait’s reopening to stability of global navigation and energy flows.

In a separate account, Starmer called on Trump to involve Gulf states in an agreement to end the Iran war, saying regional leaders emphasized that no fees or restrictions can be imposed on commercial shipping through the waterway.

He added that he told Trump ending the conflict must include neighboring Gulf states, and that Britain is working with other countries to develop military plans to ensure the strait’s security if the ceasefire evolves into longer-lasting peace.