Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar requires Keir Starmer to give up after branding his management ‘not ok’ with ‘too many errors’ in Downing Street: Live updates

You can watch the Scottish Labour’s press conference in Glasgow on our livestream below from 2:30pm.

Anas Sarwar said there have been ‘too many mistakes’ in Downing Street adding ‘too much has happened’ to change the views of voters.

He said:

We have an SNP government that is addicted to secrecy and cover ups with devastating consequences. That’s why I have to be honest about failure wherever I see it. The situation in Downing Street is not good enough. There have been too many mistakes.

They promised they were going to be different, but too much has happened. Have there been good things? Of course, there have, many of them, but no one knows them and no one can hear them because they’re being drowned out.

That’s why it cannot continue.

Anas Sarwar said he was not endorsing any candidate to replace Sir Keir Starmer after calling for the Prime Minister to resign.

The Scottish Labour leader told a press conference:

Let me be really clear, I am not supporting or backing any alternative or any candidate.

This is not about MPs versus MSPs, this is about what is right for Scotland and it is for the UK Cabinet, it is for Downing Street, it is for the UK Labour Party to decide any process, any timeline and what comes next.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is the latest Cabinet minister to throw her support behind Keir Starmer as she joined David Lammy in backing the beleagured Prime Minister.

Here’s the moment Anas Sarwar became the most senior Labour politician to call for Keir Starmer to resign as UK Prime Minister.

Mr Sarwar said he believed he was doing what was right for Scotland, insisting his decision was ‘not easy’ or ‘without pain’.

Watch the video below:

Downing Street insisted Sir Keir Starmer would not quit following Anas Sarwar’s call for him to resign, with a spokesman saying: ‘He has a clear five-year mandate from the British people to deliver change, and that is what he will do.’

Mr Sarwar confirmed he spoke to Keir Starmer ahead of his press conference in Glasgow.

Explaining the decision behind his call for Starmer to step down, he said:

It is so obvious that we desperately need change in Scotland and in three months time the opportunity to get rid of a failing SNP government is one that is too important to be missed.

We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland, because the election is not without consequence for the lives of Scots.

The situation in Downing Street is not good enough. There have been too many mistakes. They promised they were going to be different, but too much has happened.

Mr Sarwar said the leadership in Downing Street ‘has to change’ as he called on Keir Starmer to resign.

The Scottish Labour leader said his decision ‘wasn’t easy’ or ‘without pain’ as he has a genuine friendship with Starmer but added he must do what is right for his country.

He told the press conference:

The distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change.

Deputy prime minister David Lammy has voiced his support for Keir Starmer as Cabinet colleagues remain coy on his future.

Mr Lammy wrote on X:

Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on. We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that.

There was a notable absence of Cabinet figures rallying round the PM this morning, despite both Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Darren Jones being pictured in Westminster.

Deputy PM David Lammy has not spoken since Mr McSweeney’s resignation, amid claims at the weekend that he warned against making Mandelson US ambassador.

Baroness Jacqui Smith, a relatively junior minister, was put up for broadcast interviews.

One Cabinet aide said their minister would not be posting a supportive message on social media because they ‘had work to do’.

Labour sources said Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden was ‘f***ed over’ yesterday when he was sent out on TV to defend Mr McSweeney hours before he resigned.

But he was a lone voice speaking up for the premier today when grilled during a visit: ‘I think the Prime Minister acted in good faith throughout this. Of course he’ll take responsibility for the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson in the first place, he’s already done that,’ he said.

Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan is widely expected to echo the calls of Anas Sarwar for Keir Starmer to resign.

Welsh Labour are also facing a terrible night at the polls in May and Baroness Morgan has previously said she fears results could lead to a break-up of the UK.

She told Sky’s Trevor Phillips last month:

The elections in May could have profound implications, not just for the people of Wales and their public services, but also for the situation in the whole of the United Kingdom. The danger is real.

Under Labour’s rules, a leader can be challenged if at least 20 per cent of the party’s MPs nominate a single candidate to succeed him – on current numbers, this is 80 MPs.

This would trigger a leadership contest in which other candidates could also try to gain enough nominations to stand.

Starmer would be automatically on the ballot paper if he wanted to fight his corner. Only sitting MPs can be nominated, ruling out popular figures such as Andy Burnham.

And, if his opponents remain divided, Starmer might even win the leadership contest, as Jeremy Corbyn did when he faced a similar challenge a decade ago.

Here’s the four ways Starmer could be forced from Downing Street:

• Resignation

The Prime Minister could decide to quit of his own volition. Lord Blunkett suggested yesterday that Sir Keir was discussing his future with his wife Victoria this weekend, fuelling speculation he might resign. But allies say he feels a responsibility to carry on, believing that his departure could see Labour slide into the kind of instability that dogged the last Tory government.

• Women in grey suits

A delegation of senior MPs could attempt to tell Sir Keir that his time is up. Female Labour MPs have been particularly infuriated by the revelations of recent days. Potential candidates with enough authority include select committee chairmen Dame Meg Hillier and Debbie Abrahams, former minister Dame Anneliese Dodds and Parliamentary Labour Party chairman Jessica Morden.

• Vote of confidence

Kemi Badenoch has offered Labour MPs the option of tabling a vote of no confidence in the Government. But such a move is unlikely to win support on the Labour benches as it would trigger a general election in which many are likely to lose their seats. Labour MPs could hold an informal vote of confidence among themselves, but Sir Keir could choose to ignore it.

• Ministerial resignations

Ministers could attempt to bounce Sir Keir out of office by coordinating a wave of resignations to destabilise his administration.