SNP to bring no confidence motion in Keir Starmer at Westminster

The SNP has pledged to bring forward a vote of no confidence in Keir Starmer – unless the prime minister resigns first.

The party’s new Westminster leader, Dave Doogan, said the motion of no confidence would come in the form of an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech.

Starmer is under increasing pressure from members of his own party after a poor set of local election results in England, Scotland and Wales last week.

Earlier he met with health secretary Wes Streeting, who is considered to be one of the main leadership candidates, for a meeting in Downing Street which lasted less than 20 minutes.

Doogan said: “This Westminster leadership circus can’t go on any longer. At a time when families desperately need a government that is fully focused on the cost-of-living emergency, the Labour Party has plunged the UK into chaos and is so distracted by internal wrangling that it isn’t doing a thing to help hard-pressed households.

“This farce has to end now, so parliament can focus on the issues that really matter. It’s clear the only way that can happen is for Keir Starmer to go. He has lost the confidence of voters and his own MPs, and there’s no coming back from that. The Labour Party must stop dragging this crisis out and put an end to it now.”

On Tuesday, four ministers resigned from government, including Jess Phillips and Glasgow MP Zubir Ahmed.

The former surgeon said he was doing so with a “heavy heart” but said the progress being made by the government was being “dwarfed and undermined” by problems with the leadership.

Around 80 Labour MPs have now signed a letter calling on the PM to go or set a timetable for his departure. However, a further 100 have signed a statement backing him.

More to follow