Pressure up on Starmer to quit as rivals eye challenge bids

Ajouté : 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]He's going to survive this crisis.

[00:00:01]>> Donald Trump weighed in on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's political troubles on Friday. Now, you were asked about this in a minute. Well, he's in trouble for two reasons: energy and immigration. He's very bad on energy.

[00:00:12]Starmer is battling for his political survival at the end of a week that saw resignations by several junior ministers and his health secretary. While he did not trigger a formal contest, Wes Streeting said it was clear Starmer would not lead the party into the next general election slated for 2029. That's after municipal elections saw voters reject Starmer's Labour Party, which lost well over a thousand seats on local councils around the country, largely to Reform UK.

[00:00:39]One place where the populist anti-immigration party picked up council seats was Ashton-in-Makerfield, and the former mining town could find itself at the center of further political drama.

[00:00:50]A political leadership rival for Starmer is Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. To formally challenge the leadership, Burnham would have to be a member of Parliament. Currently, he is not.

[00:01:01]But on Thursday, he would seek to contest the Ashton-in-Makerfield parliamentary seat after a colleague stood down to make way for him. I think Burnham is the right man for the job.

[00:01:10]Some on the streets gave their backing to Burnham, who has been the popular mayor of the region where the town is located since 2017.

[00:01:18]But opinions here are also divided, and the outcome of any vote here is far from a foregone conclusion.