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Angela Rayner has accused Sir Keir Starmer of a “toxic culture” in in the wake of Labour’s devastating local election defeat, criticising the Prime Minister for blocking Andy Burnham’s return to Westminster.
The intervention ramps up the heat on Starmer, whose position was left looking increasingly perilous on Sunday after around 40 Labour MPs called on him to quit.
Rumours had been swirling over whether the former deputy prime minister would make a play to replace Starmer, but reports over the weekend had suggested she lacked the necessary support.
Rayner, a former housing secretary, issued a blistering statement on Sunday night, in which she provided Starmer with her manifesto for a changed Labour party.
She said on Sunday: “This government needs, at pace, to put measures in place that make people’s lives tangibly better, while fixing the foundations of a system rigged against them.
“The Prime Minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs.”
The intervention comes after Labour suffered catastrophic losses at the local elections earlier this week, losing thousands of seats and 36 councils.
Starmer faces growing pressure
Reform UK were the big winners at the local elections, sweeping across Labour’s northern heartlands and making gains in London – where they took control of Havering, their first council in the capital.
Nigel Farage, Reform’s leader, said the results laid bare a “historic shift” in British politics and signalled an end to typical “left-right” distinctions.
The huge scale of Labour losses sparked speculation over whether Starmer would be challenged as Prime Minister – with Ed Miliband, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner said to be considering leadership bids.
Backbench MP and former junior minister Catherine West issued an ultimatum to the cabinet on Saturday, saying she would challenge Starmer herself if they did not trigger a reshuffle which removed him as Prime Minister.
Starmer said on Friday that he would refuse to “walk away” and risk “plunging the country into chaos,” and on Sunday insisted he was elected on a 10-year mandate to change the country.
Rayner: Bring Burnham back
Rayner addressed Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s failed attempt to run for Labour in the Gorton and Denton by-election – which was seen by many as the prelude to a challenge against Starmer.
Burnham announced his intention to stand as Labour’s candidate in the contest that was eventually won by the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer, but was blocked by Labour’s selection committee.
Rayner said: “This is bigger than personalities, but it is time to acknowledge that blocking Andy Burnham was a mistake.
“We must show we understand the scale of change the moment calls for – that means bringing our best players into Parliament – and embracing the type of agenda that has been successful at a local level, rather than reaching back to an agenda and politics that has failed people.”
Burnham is widely seen as one of the candidates to replace Starmer, but he would need to seek election to Westminster via another by-election – a likely time-consuming process.
Rayner also set out her demands for how Labour should “meet the moment,” with policies including raising the minimum wage, cutting costs for households and ending the freehold system.
The government should also give mayors more power over planning and licensing, promote rail nationalisation and boost manufacturing as part of extra defence investment, she said.
The former deputy prime minister said: “We are in danger of becoming a party of the well-off, not working people. The Peter Mandelson scandal showed a toxic culture of cronyism.
“Decisions like cutting winter fuel allowance just weren’t what people expected from a Labour government.”
