Keir Starmer vows to fight on as PM despite heavy local election losses for Labour

Leader defiant in face of calls from some of his MPs to quit but admits ‘results are tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it’

British prime minister Keir Starmer meets Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall in Ealing, west London. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on as prime minister despite early results in local elections showing his party suffering heavy losses, many at the hands of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Mr Starmer struck a defiant note on Friday morning in the face of calls from some of his MPs to quit, insisting he remained as determined as ever to deliver the promises on which he was elected less than two years ago.