Defiant Keir Starmer vows not to quit if Labour loses Holyrood election amid 'chaos' warning
The Prime Minister has insisted May’s Holyrood election is “not a referendum on the Westminster government”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not quit if Labour loses May’s Holyrood election alongside other dire results across the UK.
Sir Keir, who is facing pressure from his colleagues over Labour’s plummeting support in the polls and a rise in favourability of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, has vowed to stay on and fight, even if his party endures a dismal set of elections in May.
Polling suggests that the SNP will remain the biggest party in May’s Scottish Parliament elections, with some studies even forecasting Labour could finish behind Reform in third place.
But it could get even worse for the Prime Minister - with Labour poised to lose power in Wales and suffer a hammering in local elections taking place across England. Some UK Labour insiders have suggested a campaign to push Sir Keir out of office could take place on the back of a terrible set of elections.
READ MORE: Revealed: How Scottish Labour hopes it can turn tables on SNP and snatch power in Holyrood election
Asked by the BBC if he would have the authority to turn things around or whether it would be time for a new leader, Sir Keir acknowledged a “very important set of elections” were due to be held, adding May’s polls were “very important in Scotland”.
He added: “We will fight for every vote and take absolutely nothing for granted.
“I know that in these elections, as in all elections, every vote has to be earned.
“The question…in Scotland is who do you want as the Scottish Government. They are local and national in that sense. They are not a referendum on the Westminster government.”
Pressed over whether there was “any circumstances in which if there was a leadership challenge to you, you would walk way”, Sir Keir suggested he would remain in Downing Street.
He said: “Under the last government we saw constant chopping and changing of leadership, of teams. It caused utter chaos and it’s amongst the reasons the Tories were booted out so effectively at the last election.
“Nobody wants to go back to that. It’s not in our national interest. We know, from that evidence, what happens if you go down that chaotic path. I’m not going to take us back to that kind of chaos.”
READ MORE: John Swinney keeping election focus on independence and energy will be fatal for Anas Sarwar
Sir Keir added: “I was elected on a five-year mandate to change this country. I intend to deliver on that mandate.
“I will be judged at the next general election on whether we have brought about the change that people voted for.
“I think that in 2026, we will be able to turn the corner and show the evidence of that and then we’ll press on over the coming years into the general election to deliver on the mandate that I and the party won in July 2024.”
Although Sir Keir and other senior Labour figures including Anas Sarwar have insisted the Holyrood election is not being fought on public sentiment of the UK government, opponents, including the SNP are expected to jump on the unpopularity of the Prime Minister and try and frame the election as a chance to remove him from office.
In a post of X, formerly known as Twitter, Sir Keir acknowledged the public’s frustration at the lack of change promised during the 2024 general election campaign.
“I know people are frustrated about the pace of change. I am too”, he said.
“Getting our country back on track will take time, but despite the chaos we inherited, we're making progress.
“This year, Britain will turn the corner, and you will start to feel the change we promised – in your bills, in your community and in your public services.”
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