Sir Keir Starmer has opened his first meeting of the year with his top team with an appeal for unity amid ongoing speculation over whether he will be ousted by Labour MPs.
The beleaguered prime minister called for discipline and a focus on tackling the cost of living crisis as his cabinet gathered in Downing Street.
It comes as rumours persist around a potential leadership bid by health secretary Wes Streeting, with reports that Scottish Labour MPs are asking him to take over as leader to prevent a wipeout in the crucial May elections.
Support for Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner as potential candidates has also continued to grow.
Just hours before the cabinet meeting, Mr Streeting was forced to rebuff claims he is pushing for Sir Keir’s job, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I’m certainly not talking about it [leadership speculation].”
Sir Keir told his senior ministers that their challenge for 2026 is to show “hard work, focus and determination” in helping to ease the financial burden on households.
With Labour facing a difficult set of elections in England, Scotland and Wales in May, the prime minister is under pressure to show results.
A new YouGov poll published on Tuesday has also seen Labour slip further to third place at 17 per cent behind Nigel Farage’s Reform on 26 per cent and the Tories on 19 per cent. Labour is only just above the Greens on 15 per cent, while the Lib Dems are on 16 per cent.
During the political cabinet meeting, which also included new deputy leader Lucy Powell, ministers were reminded that centre left parties in Norway, Australia and Canada had successful recoveries and avoided electoral defeat through focussing on delivery and cost of living issues.
The attempt to focus on domestic matters also comes as Donald Trump and the US continue to threaten to annex Greenland, with Sir Keir set to join world leaders in Paris for a meeting of Ukraine’s allies.
He said: “Yes, there’s a world of uncertainty and upheaval, but tackling the cost of living remains and must remain our focus.”
The prime minister insisted the government’s measures were paying off, with increases in the minimum wage, the Bank of England’s reductions in interest rates and help with energy bills all helping ease the burden on squeezed household incomes.
Speaking at the meeting of the political cabinet – without civil service officials but with Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell and general secretary Hollie Ridley in attendance – he added: “This will be an important year as we show that renewal is becoming reality and that Britain is turning the corner.
“Getting our country back on track is hard, difficult work and we will reject the politics of easy answers and gimmicks that, frankly, got us here in the first place.”
With speculation persisting in Westminster about the possibility of Sir Keir facing a leadership challenge if Labour performs badly in May’s local and devolved parliamentary elections, the prime minister urged his cabinet to deliver results.
Mr Streeting is widely viewed as a potential successor and Sir Keir pointedly noted the need to demonstrate improvements in the NHS as he called for hard work and determination from across the cabinet.
“At the next general election we will be judged on whether we’ve delivered on things that really matter – do people feel better off, are public services improving, for which they will look to the NHS, and do people feel more safe and secure in their own community,” he said.
“They are the issues we will be judged on at the next general election, that is our focus.
“That will require hard work, focus and determination from all of us.
“Together, as a team, we will rise to that challenge and deliver for the whole country.”
Setting out the political choice for voters, Sir Keir said: “A Labour government renewing the country or a Reform movement that feeds on grievance, decline and division.
“They want a weaker state, they want to inject bile into our communities, they want to appease Putin. This is the fight of our political lives and one that we must relish.
“I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.”
Labour has plummeted in the opinion polls since the 2024 general election landslide, with Reform UK enjoying consistent leads, giving them hope of success in May’s contests in English councils and in Wales.
In Scotland, Labour faces a challenge from Reform as both parties seek to oust the SNP.
Trump was ‘morally right’ to attack Venezuela and seize Maduro, says Kemi Badenoch
Starmer and European allies ‘will not stop defending’ Greenland amid US threat
Starmer says UK ‘turning the corner’ at first Cabinet meeting of 2026
Brexit has made everything worse, new poll reveals
Labour drops behind Tories for first time since election ahead of crunch May vote
Starmer prepares Brexit ‘reset’ bill to align UK with EU law
