Keir Starmer: Labour has spent too long talking to ourselves

Labour has spent too long “talking to ourselves” and failed to set out a coherent vision to the country, Keir Starmer said as “shattering” early election results for the party were capped by a landslide defeat in the Tees Valley mayoral race.

After Labour lost the Hartlepool parliamentary seat for the first time since it was created in a parallel byelection, the Conservatives’ Ben Houchen was re-elected as Tees Valley mayor, taking almost 73% of votes, three times as many as Labour.

With early council election results showing Labour haemorrhaging support in other traditional heartlands, mainly to the Conservatives but also to the Greens and Liberal Democrats, Starmer said he was “bitterly disappointed”.

“I take full responsibility for the results, and I will take full responsibility for fixing things,” Starmer said in a televised clip as MPs and others on the left of Labour called for him to urgently change course.

“We have changed as a party, but we haven’t set out a strong enough case to the country. Very often we’ve been talking to ourselves, instead of to the country, and we’ve lost the trust of working people, particularly in places like Hartlepool. I intend to do whatever is necessary to fix that.”

Asked about criticism from the left of Labour, Starmer said: “This is not a question of left or right; it’s a question of whether we’re facing the country. It means stopping, as a party, quarrelling among ourselves, looking internally, facing the country, and setting out that bold vision for a better Britain.”

Questioned about how he would do this, Starmer pledged to “set out a strong case to the country” in the next few days though gave no specifics beyond pledging to “end the injustice and inequality that millions of people face every day”.

He refused to comment about a possible reshuffle of his shadow cabinet, which is widely expected.