Three Junior Labour Aides Resign After Poor Local Election Results

Three Labour aides resigned on Monday amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to resign after a dismal performance in last week’s local elections. Joe Morris stepped down as ministerial aide to Wes Streeting. Tom Rutland resigned as PPS to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, and Naushabah Khan resigned as Cabinet Office PPS.

Over 50 Labour MPs are demanding Sir Keir Starmer's departure. Joe Morris urged Sir Keir Starmer to establish a swift timetable for his departure. In a resignation statement running to multiple paragraphs on the local elections and Labour leadership, Morris delivered a blunt verdict on the Prime Minister’s standing.

“The message from last week’s elections was clear: the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the public,” Morris said. Local councillors who have served their communities for decades, as well as first time candidates and the Labour members who campaigned for them, ended up taking the blame for decisions that were not theirs, he added.

” He stated that voters simply do not accept that Sir Keir Starmer can lead the change they voted for.

“It is in the best interests of the country and the party that the Prime Minister sets out a swift timetable to ensure that a new leader is in place,” Morris said. The former ministerial aide was elected after 100 years of Conservative MPs treating the area with complacency. He represents the constituency including the areas Gilsland, Walbottle, Kielder and Whittonstall.

“My first duty will always be to deliver for communities in my constituency, from Gilsland to Walbottle and from Kielder to Whittonstall,” Morris said. “Whether in Northumberland or in Newcastle, constituents need a Labour government in order to reduce the cost of living, to invest in our communities and our infrastructure and to make good on the promises made at the general election,” his statement continued.

Morris expressed boundless confidence in the Labour Party and its ability to rise to the moment, yet concluded that the Prime Minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change.

The departures of the three aides come as Sir Keir Starmer faces the most serious challenge to his leadership since taking office. @Independent reported that the resignations have amplified calls from more than 50 Labour MPs for the Prime Minister to set out a timetable to leave. Morris’s intervention is particularly notable given Wes Streeting’s status as a potential leadership contender.

In the closing lines of his statement Morris returned to his constituents’ needs. “Only a strong Labour government, led by strong leadership, can deliver the change our communities deserve,” he said.