Wigan MP Lisa Nandy urges Labour Party to rally behind PM Sir Keir Starmer

There have been calls for Sir Keir Starmer to resign following Thursday’s local elections, with Makerfield MP Josh Simons among those asking him to set out a “timetable for departure”.

But culture secretary Ms Nandy has instead urged members of the Labour party to support him.

She told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “He knows he’s got doubters, he knows he’s made mistakes, but he’s prepared to pick himself up and fight.

“Now I think, frankly, we owe him, and we owe the country all of our efforts to make sure that he succeeds, because his success is the country’s success.”

Ms Nandy said she was “reeling from from what happened last week and what we’ve been hearing on the doors, but also I do have a renewed sense of determination that, as the prime minister said, nobody has the right to walk away from the scale of change that is required”.

She was speaking after Sir Keir vowed to prove his doubters wrong and said he would not “walk away” in a speech on Monday.

Ms Nandy added: “In the end, whether the prime minister stays in post during this Parliament is up to him, and it’s up to Labour MPs. And he knew today that he had to give Labour MPs the confidence that he can turn this situation around, and that he had to give the country confidence that he was the person to do it.

“It was a very personal account, he only gave it a couple of hours ago. And I think we now all need to pick ourselves up and rise to meet this moment. Strong, united teams change countries, individuals alone never do.”

So far, 43 Labour MPs have called for Sir Keir to go, and others have suggested they could do so if he does not change course rapidly.

In a speech in central London on Monday, he said he took “responsibility” for the losses in the election but insisted he would fight on.

Sir Keir said: “I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including in my own party.

“I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong, and I will.”

Speaking on Sky News’s Cathy Newman Show, Ms Nandy addressed Labour’s losses in Wigan, where 24 of the 25 seats up for grabs were taken by Reform UK and the remaining one by an independent candidate.

She said: “One of the great challenges that we’ve had in my town for a long time is that we haven’t had politicians who are prepared to acknowledge the problem.

“(It) doesn’t just go back to the ’08 financial crash – which sparked off austerity – and then the pandemic, the chaos at the top of government, which is demonstrably led to people’s lives getting worse.

“Actually, in my town, this has been a long time coming.

“It goes back decades to when jobs were offshored, investment went into major cities, young people had to get out to get on, and people have watched the spending power drain out of the community, the high street falling apart, and they demand better than that.”

Some people have looked towards Greater Manchester mayor and former Leigh MP Andy Burnham as a possible new leader.

Ms Nandy described the decision to block him from contesting a parliamentary by-election earlier this year as “a mistake”.

She added: “I think you need your strongest team on the pitch and he (Mr Burnham) is undeniably one of those politicians who goes out and fights for people, and people see it and appreciate it.”

Ms Nandy said: “This is not about trying to swap out the prime minister or change the prime minister but I do think we need to stick together as a team, come together as a team, field our strongest players and go out and make that change that people were promised and that we owe it to them to deliver.”

Sir Keir would not be drawn on whether he would support Mr Burnham’s return to Westminster, saying it was a matter for Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).

In a speech to the Communication Workers Union on Monday, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner – herself regarded as a potential leadership contender – said the decision to block Mr Burnham should be “put right”.