Sir Keir Starmer is facing a leadership challenge if the May local elections are as bad for Labour as expected, says a veteran MP.
Graham Stringer, the MP for Blackley and Middleton South who was first elected to Parliament in the Blair 1997 landslide victory, said a dismal result in the town hall polls would show that Sir Keir has not succeeded as Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister would have failed to “put the show on the road” since he won a huge majority at the general election last July, he added.
Labour is set to lose hundreds of council seats in the May elections, according to polls, including in London.
The last time these elections were held in the capital Labour did particularly well, winning three previously Tory councils, Westminster, Barnet and Wandsworth - so it is facing heavy losses in the city as the Greens and Reform UK gain ground.
“Most members of the Parliamentary Labour Party expect if the local election results in May are as bad as predicted by the opinion polls, we are expecting there to be a challenge to Keir Starmer,” Mr Stringer said.
Pressed whether there should be a leadership contest, Eurosceptic MP Mr Stringer added on Times Radio: “That’s a really difficult questions for me to answer.
“We are in a situation where if we do as badly as predicted in the local elections then it will be clear that Keir has not succeeded in the way that I would want him to succeed.”
But he stressed that Labour MPs would have to decide then whether it would be better or worse for the party for a coup to be launched to remove Sir Keir, or whether it would just end up looking “ridiculous” like the Conservatives as they repeatedly changed leader.
“Certainly, if we lose very badly those discussions will have to be had because Keir will have had 18 months to put the show on the road and that would be a clear indication that the show very definitely wasn’t on the road,” he added.
Mr Stringer laid out the leadership threat facing Sir Keir after Health Secretary Wes Streeting pressed the case for closer economic ties with the European Union.
Mr Streeting, MP for Ilford North, described the “reset” negotiated by the PM with Brussels as a “good start” to undo some of the damage of Brexit.
“The reason why leaving the EU hit us so hard as a country is because of the enormous economic benefits that came with being in the Single Market and the Customs Union,” he added in an interview with The Observer.
“This is a country and a Government that wants a closer trading relationship with Europe.
“The challenge is any economic partnership we have can’t lead to a return to freedom of movement.”
Such a stance rules out rejoining the Single Market but not the Customs Union, though the latter may be difficult as it could lead to other trade deals, for example with the US, unravelling.
Mr Streeting’s comments were interpreted by some at Westminster as him saying the UK should try to strike a deal on a new customs union with the EU, even if not the existing Customs Union.
Mr Stringer described the Health Secretary’s remarks as an “early shot in what might be a leadership election” after the May local elections.
Earlier, this year Mr Streeting accused No10 insiders of trying to “kneecap” him after briefings claiming that his allies were already on manoeuvres ahead of a possible leadership contest which Sir Keir was said to be planning to fight.
Allies of former Communities Secretary and ex-Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner have reportedly ruled out a joint ticket with Mr Streeting to replace the PM.
Mr Stringer said “many members of the Cabinet” back returning to the Customs Union and that rejoining the EU is popular among Labour members particularly in London.
Sir Keir had to intervene recently after Tottenham MP David Lammy, the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, voiced support for going back into the Customs Union.
Six London Labour MPs broke rank earlier this month to back the UK rejoining the Customs Union.
Businesses, including Marks and Spencer, are urging the Government to swiftly pursue closer economic ties with the EU to boost trade and jobs destroyed by Brexit.
Mr Stringer argued that there would need to be a second referendum to go back into the Customs Union given the 2016 Brexit vote.
