Angela Rayner has called on Keir Starmer to steer Labour further to the Left following a ‘catastrophic’ loss in a recent by-election.
Rayner, a former deputy prime minister, described the defeat in the once-secure Labour stronghold of Gorton and Denton as a crucial ‘wake-up call’ for a party grappling with its promise of ‘change.’
As a potential contender to lead Labour should Sir Keir face ousting, Rayner emphasized the need for the party leadership to show more courage and adopt a ‘Labour agenda that prioritizes people’—a signal for a shift towards a more Left-leaning stance on taxation and public spending.
In the by-election, Labour’s Angeliki Stogia finished a disappointing third behind the Greens and Reform, despite the Prime Minister’s recent campaign efforts in the constituency, where he asserted that only Labour could challenge Nigel Farage’s party.
Though visibly unsettled by the magnitude of the setback, Sir Keir declared he would not step down, affirming in a television interview that he is committed to fighting ‘for as long as I’ve got breath in my body.’
Nevertheless, anxious Labour MPs are urging a pivot to the Left to counter the Greens ahead of the looming local elections in May, with some even suggesting Sir Keir should resign.
Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell suggested the party should ditch efforts to match Mr Farage on issues such as immigration, saying ‘we can’t out-Reform Reform’.
Others called for the introduction of wealth taxes and the nationalisation of utilities.
The PM appeared rattled by the scale of the defeat in the Gordon and Denton by-election but insisted he would not resign. Pictured: Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to the Walbottle Academy in Newcastle, England on February 26 2026
The PM also faced fury over his decision to block Andy Burnham from fighting the seat, which many Labour MPs believe he would have won, but which would have opened a route to return to Parliament where he could mount a challenge for the leadership.
There were no signs of an immediate leadership challenge. But the disastrous result hardened the belief among Labour MPs that Sir Keir could be forced out after the local elections in May.
Labour’s Norwich South MP Clive Lewis described Sir Keir as an ‘interim leader’, adding: ‘It’s now just a matter of how long that interim is.’
Mr Lewis, a supporter of Mr Burnham, said No 10 had ‘lost its way, adding: ‘This is a Labour Government that seems to be completely out of its depth, a Prime Minister out of his depth, a front bench out of its depth.’
Another senior Labour figure described the PM as a ‘dead man walking’.
The source said the result dealt a hammer blow to Sir Keir’s strategy of trying to unite the Left against Reform.
‘The big winners in all this are Reform – because if the Greens can build a wedge on the Left, Reform can come through the middle,’ the source said.
Former Labour frontbencher Karl Turner described the Gorton result as ‘catastrophic’ and urged the PM to shift Left.
Angela Rayner today led calls for Keir Starmer to drag Labour even further Left following the party’s ‘catastrophic’ by-election defeat (pictured speaking at the Night Time Economy Summit in Liverpool on February 12)
Mr Turner said: ‘We can’t out-Right Reform on immigration and we can’t out-Green the Greens on progressive policy. Perhaps we should try being Labour… what about a wealth tax that people can actually get behind?’
Left-winger Richard Burgon said responsibility for the defeat ‘lies squarely with Keir Starmer and his clique’.
Mr Burgon called on ministers to stop treating Left-wing voters with ‘contempt’ and adopt ‘real Labour values’ like wealth taxes and nationalisations.
Trade union leaders also called for a change in direction, with Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA transport union, demanding Sir Keir resign ‘immediately’.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the party needed to ‘ditch the gimmicks and get back to being Labour’.
She urged Cabinet ministers to ‘stop listening to your rich mates and start listening to everyday people.’
Fire Brigades Union chief Steve Wright said the party would face ‘heavy losses’ at local and devolved elections in May if it did not ‘change course immediately’.
In her victory speech Hannah Spencer said voters wanted a party that would stop them being ‘bled dry’ by billionaires.
‘People in their thousands told me, on the doorstep and at the ballot box, that what we are sick of is being let down and looked down on,’ she said.
‘That we are sick of our hard work making other people rich.’
Ms Spencer, a former plumber, won comfortably with 14,980, well ahead of Reform’s Matthew Goodwin on 10,578.
Ms Stogia picked up just 9,364 votes in a seat where Labour’s majority in 2024 was more than 13,000.
The Tories had their worst ever by-election result, with Charlotte Cadden receiving just 706 votes and losing her deposit.
Responding to the result Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir was ‘in office but not in power’ adding: ‘If he had any integrity he would go.’
But Sir Keir insisted that only Labour could fight off the ‘extremes’ of Reform and the Greens.
In a letter to Labour MPs he wrote: ‘We will continue to warn of the risk the Greens pose: the risk of extreme policies like legalising all drugs and pulling out of Nato that most voters strongly reject, and the risk of splitting the progressive vote so that Reform come through the middle.’
