A “mainstream majority” of voters do not want Nigel Farage or Zack Polanski to be prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted to Labour MPs after the party’s defeat at the Gorton and Denton by-election.
The Prime Minister sought to win over his backbenchers with the message at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday.
It came after the Green Party won the Greater Manchester seat – previously a Labour stronghold – on Thursday.
“Politics is changing, and it’s changing decisively,” Sir Keir told his MPs, in an acknowledgement that voters now appear more willing to lend their support to political parties beyond the Conservatives and Labour.
At the PLP meeting, the first chance Sir Keir has had to address his MPs since the by-election, he added: “But I believe, and continue to believe, that there is a mainstream majority in this country who neither want Nigel Farage or Zack Polanski as their prime minister.”
Labour is delivering “progressive change” with “moral purpose” under his leadership, Sir Keir insisted.
He added that “generational change” is “already happening” as a result of his Government, pointing to the Employment Rights Act and Renters’ Rights Act as examples of laws aimed at helping Labour’s traditional voters.
He also singled out the Government’s investment in the NHS, drive for clean power, and action on child poverty.
The Green Party’s newest MP Hannah Spencer was sworn in to Parliament on Monday after winning last week’s poll.
She became the fifth Green Party MP in the House of Commons last week when she topped the ballot.
The Green Party now has the highest number of seats it has ever had in the House of Commons.
The plumber and plasterer beat Reform UK into second place, with a majority of 4,402.
The Labour Party, which had previously held the seat at the last general election, came third with 9,364 votes.
Former health minister Andrew Gwynne announced in January he was standing down as an MP.
