Keir Starmer has said he will do “whatever is necessary” to rebuild trust in Labour following a shattering defeat for the party in the Hartlepool by-election.
In a stunning result, the Boris Johnson’s Tories overturned majority of 3,500 at the general election to take the north east of England seat, which had been Labour-held since it was formed in 1974, with a majority of 6,940.
After seeing another pillar in the “red wall” of northern seats fall to the Tories, the bruised Labour leader told his party to “stop quarrelling among ourselves” and address the needs of the country.
Starmer said that Labour has “lost the trust of working people” after a grim set of local election results.
With Labour braced for further damaging losses in the English council elections, Starmer added that he was determined to address the problems.
He said: “I’m bitterly disappointed in the result and I take full responsibility for the results and I will take full responsibility for fixing this.”
“We have changed as a party but we haven’t set out a strong enough case to the country.
“Very often we have been talking to ourselves instead of to the country and we have lost the trust of working people, particularly in places like Hartlepool. I intend to do whatever is necessary to fix that.”
Boris Johnson cerebrated the “Super Thursday” of elections in Hartlepool with a huge, 16-point swing.
On a walkabout in Hartlepool with the victorious candidate, Jill Mortimer, the Prime Minister said her win was a “mandate for us to continue to deliver” for the north-east of England and the rest of the country.
He said: “If there is a lesson out of this whole election campaign across the whole of the UK is that the public want us to get on with focusing on their needs and their priorities, coming through the pandemic and making sure we build back better.”
With Labour heading for a bout of infighting Labour MP Khalid Mahmood quit his post as a shadow defence minister cursing the takeover of the party by “woke social media warriors” on the way out the door.
He added: “No wonder Labour is doing better among rich urban liberals and young university graduates than it is amongst the most important part of its traditional electoral coalition, the working-class.”
Anas Sarwar, Labour’s Scottish leader, defended his Westminster colleague as the right man to lead the party.
Sarwar said: “There are lots of reasons why Labour is struggling in England. But he is absolutely the right person, and I will work with him to elect a Labour government across the UK.”
Sarwar continued: “There is lessons the rest of the UK (Labour) can learn from Scotland and Scottish Labour’s experience.”
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the results of England were catastrophic for Labour and had a message for Scotland.
She said: “Given that these results suggest England is looking like having a prolonged period of Tory government the question for us in Scotland, because the majority of us don’t want to be governed by the Tories, is are we going to accept that or are we going to take our future into our own hands?”
Sturgeon added: “In a sense, the results in England clarify the importance of Scotland getting to choose ,once of course we’re out of the covid crisis.”
