Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK

Angela Rayner has won the support of many union leaders with her employment rights agenda. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

The head of a Labour-affiliated union has called for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer, warning that Starmer risks leading the party into a heavy election defeat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), told the Guardian she wanted the former deputy prime minister to take charge after this month’s Gorton and Denton byelection.