Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar calls on Keir Starmer to stand down

Sarwar tells press conference: ‘The distraction has to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change’

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has called on Keir Starmer to stand down, throwing the prime minister’s leadership of the country into serious peril.

At a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow, the senior Labour politician said: “The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”

Sarwar said there had been “too many mistakes” by No 10 since Starmer came to power and that while the prime minister was a “decent man” he was undermining Labour’s ability to win the Scottish parliament elections in May.

The Scottish party leader is said to be furious that the UK government’s decisions have severely damaged support for Scottish Labour, with the SNP’s John Swinney now appearing to be on course to stay in Bute House.

Recent opinion polls show Labour trailing in third place behind the Scottish National party and Reform. Sarwar and his advisers have calculated it will be impossible for Starmer to recover after the scandal over Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein.

His call for Starmer to go comes as a serious blow to the prime minister, who is fighting to reassert control over his party after accepting the resignation of his closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, amid anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

But senior Labour sources said McSweeney’s departure had left the prime minister dangerously exposed as he headed towards a series of electoral challenges – including the Scottish elections – that could determine his political fate.

Sources close to Eluned Morgan, Labour’s first minister in Wales, denied on Monday she was planning to add her voice to the call for Starmer to go even though the party also faces a hammering in the Welsh elections in May.

Sarwar told the press conference that his first priority was to Scotland and that he did not want to “sacrifice” the country to a third decade of an SNP government.

“That’s why the distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change. 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,” he said.

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

He added: “The people of this great country, Scotland, are crying out for competent government, for transparency, for honesty and for delivery. They want to see politics that is open and accountable. They want to see leaders who put the national interest before themselves.

“That is the standard I will always apply. In three months, we have an election that must be about one thing and one thing only: Scotland. That is my duty, that is my priority, that is my loyalty, and that is Scotland’s choice.”

Sarwar revealed that he told the prime minister earlier in the day that he planned to call for his resignation and that “it’s fair to say, we didn’t agree”.

After a tumultuous few days, David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, was the first cabinet minister to publicly back the prime minister, after hours of silence from his senior ministerial team.

“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,” he posted.

Douglas Alexander, the Scotland secretary, who works closely with Sarwar, said: “Anas has reached his own decision and I respect that. My job – as Anas acknowledged today – is to make sure Scotland’s voice is heard in cabinet. My focus remains on doing that.”

There was an immediate backlash among some Scottish Labour MPs, who have privately been among the most critical of the prime minister, with one telling the Guardian: “Anas does not speak for us all.”

Cabinet ministers including Rachel Reeves, the chancellor; Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary; and John Healey, the defence secretary, rallied round the prime minister, although the support of some was more muted.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who is known to have leadership ambitions of his own, told Sky News that although the atmosphere was febrile, “Keir Starmer doesn’t need to resign.” He added: “It has not been the best week for the government … Give Keir a chance.”

Some cabinet ministers in London were shocked by Sarwar’s intervention. One told the Guardian: “I can’t for the life of me understand what he’s doing. It would be madness to have a leadership contest and delegate the future of the country to the Labour membership.”

Downing Street said Starmer was not resigning and would be “concentrating on the job in hand”. His official spokesperson described his mood as “upbeat” and “confident” as he addressed No 10 staff.

Sources close to the prime minister have suggested that he spent the weekend reflecting on his future. But the spokesperson said: “That is not the prime minister who appeared in front of staff this morning. It is very clear that he remains determined to tackle the job in hand.”

Sarwar’s team was deeply irritated to learn last week that the prime minister had been arguing internally that he needed to remain in office to help Scottish Labour win the May election. They believe the polls show that Starmer’s continued leadership will destroy their electoral chances.

Polling by More in Common found on Friday that Labour had fallen four points in the Holyrood constituency vote, slipping behind Reform into third place, and was also a point behind Reform on the list vote.

Until the latest developments in the Epstein scandal, Sarwar had repeatedly defended Starmer’s record and as recently as last week had offered the prime minister his tentative support.

In the months after Scottish Labour’s success in the 2024 general election, when it won 37 out of Scotland’s 57 Westminster seats, Sarwar had been extremely confident of winning the Holyrood election.

He brought in more than a £1m in donations, winning backing from wealthy Scottish business leaders, and believed Scottish voters had grown weary and disappointed with the SNP after 18 years in government.