Labour Loses By-Elections in Runcorn and Chester

Pressure intensified Monday on the British prime minister to resign after the ruling Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections, with more than 70 of its 403 MPs reportedly urging him to step aside. Four government aides resigned and publicly called for new leadership, saying the prime minister had lost the confidence of both the public and many Labour MPs.

One former parliamentary private secretary wrote that it was now clear the prime minister no longer had the trust to lead change. Another aide to a cabinet minister said the prime minister had lost authority that could not be regained. The prime minister, who took office in July 2024 after ending 14 years of Conservative rule, faced a damning verdict on his 22 months in power.

Voters delivered large gains to the hard-right Reform UK party and left-wing Greens while Labour lost control of more than 30 councils in England and around 1,500 councillors. Labour also lost control of the Welsh parliament to nationalists for the first time since its creation in 1999 and failed to gain ground against the Scottish National Party.

The results marked the worst local election performance for a governing party in more than three decades.

In a speech Monday the prime minister acknowledged public frustration with the state of the country, politics and his leadership. He promised a bigger response rather than incremental change on economic growth, closer European ties and energy policy.

The prime minister pledged to fully nationalise British Steel. He delivered the strongest official condemnation of Brexit since the UK's departure in 2020, stating it had left the country poorer, weaker and less secure. " — The prime minister, May 11 2026 (France 24) One MP who had threatened to trigger a leadership contest said afterward that names were instead being collected from colleagues who want the prime minister to set a timetable for electing a new leader in September.

The prime minister pledged to fight any challenge and warned that Labour would never be forgiven by voters if it repeated the chaos of the previous Conservative government, which had five prime ministers since 2010.

Mahmood was among ministers who told the prime minister he should set out a timetable for his resignation, according to multiple reports. ITV journalist Robert Peston reported that one MP was preparing to challenge the prime minister for leadership of the Labour Party.

A separate Labour MP told BBC Newsnight that no prime minister could survive this level of lost confidence among colleagues and described the Monday speech as at best tone deaf and at worst insulting for its reference to free movement of young people with the European Union.

The MP, who represents a constituency that voted to leave the EU in 2016, said the prime minister had never been an electoral asset. While more than 70 MPs have reportedly called for the prime minister to go, it remains unclear whether that threshold will be met.

Separately, European officials are preparing to allow the UK to maintain its ban on live animal exports as part of negotiations over a post-Brexit agricultural deal, according to sources on both sides. The concession would represent a political victory for the prime minister as he seeks closer EU ties amid domestic pressure.

The prime minister has been praised in some quarters for resisting U.S. President Donald Trump over Iran but has struggled to deliver economic growth to ease the cost of living crisis that has weighed on British households. A report on rising sexual offences across the EU since 2015 was cited by opponents of closer EU integration as a warning against restoring elements of free movement.

The prime minister has so far resisted calls to resign and insisted he will deliver the bolder agenda voters demanded.