The absence of an alternative potential leader emerging after weeks of turmoil for the Government means Sir Keir Starmer should be supported for now, a leading Labour figure in the north of England has said.
Sir Stephen Houghton, who leads a group representing metropolitan authorities in the North and Midlands, said the Government has 12 months to save itself as the Prime Minister faces the same “danger” as Rishi Sunak did in office.
The current public “mindset” means the Prime Minister is seen as incapable of addressing key issues such as small boat crossings and the cost of living, Sir Stephen said.
This is because the “Government as a whole found the domestic position much more difficult than they anticipated and much more difficult to resolve,” he added.
Sir Stephen told PA news agency: “I don’t see any other alternative emerging, so at the moment I think we continue to support and work alongside Sir Keir.
“The issue of the boats and Reform are very much to the fore in everyone’s minds, and everyone wants to see a resolution to that pretty quickly.
“The Government has got to get a grip on that because that will make a significant difference to the public mindset and the party mindset.”
Sir Stephen, who is leader of Barnsley Council, said the Government will not got “three to four years” to win back public trust, so it must urgently “get a grip on migration” and “the economic stuff”.
He added: “I think the future of the Government is going to be determined in the next 12 months.
“All these things are coming together at once and they have got to try to manage that.
“The danger is the public mindset. I think Rishi Sunak found this problem when he came into office after Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
“The public mindset was already there and whatever they did, it just was never going to be enough”.
Rishi Sunak became prime minister in October 2022 following the “Partygate” scandal under Boris Johnson and the damaging mini-budget under Liz Truss.
He resigned 18 months later after the Conservatives suffered the worst local election results since 1996.
Sir Stephen, who leads the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (Sigoma), said local elections next year will provide a “barometer” on whether the public mindset is already set up for the next election.
The Prime Minister is facing calls from some Labour backbenchers to resign, amid questions about his judgment in appointing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador.
The peer’s friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein was public knowledge at the time.
Sir Keir gave public backing to Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday only to sack him the following day after the publication of email exchanges with Epstein.
Meanwhile, Sir Stephen said the recent resignation of Angela Rayner as communities secretary over her tax affairs and the departure of local government ministers has caused concern among Sigoma councils.
There are fears a current review of local government funding, which was set to redistribute revenue from council tax across the country to areas with lower revenue and further prioritise deprivation levels when calculating allocations, could be reconsidered.
Former Lambeth Council leader Steve Reed has succeeded Ms Rayner as Communities Secretary and Sir Stephen said his background may work against councils in poorer areas outside London.
He added: “Clearly London comes out of the (current) proposals in some difficulty, and we know they have been lobbying hard.
“You have got a minister who originates from London, so there is that concern there that is going to change things now.”
Mr Reed has sought to reassure local government leaders that he would continue in the same direction as his predecessor, but Sir Stephen said the “devil is in the detail”.
He added that the consequences of a failure to deliver on promised reforms would not only lead to more councils declaring essential bankruptcy, but cause further “social dissatisfaction” as residents feel “no one is listening to them”.
“There are political consequences of that because Reform will be all over that in those particularly post-industrial places where people are already saying the Government does not care,” Sir Stephen said.
