Union bosses give Starmer new leadership ultimatum

The leaders of some of the UK’s largest unions have delivered a new ultimatum to Sir Keir Starmer, just days after he survived an attempt to oust him from power.

- KATE DEVLIN

Demanding he change course or risk electoral disaster, Unite and Unison have warned that the party’s current trajectory undermines its “ability to win both people’s trust and elections”. They say they will band with concerned MPs to “reverse this damaging behaviour”.

The unions, which between them donate millions of pounds to the party, also hit out at Sir Keir’s decision to block his rival Andy Burnham’s return to Westminster in a by-election this month.

The warning comes just hours after Sir Keir was forced to deny he was almost “toppled” by his own MPs this week in a failed coup.

His government was plunged into crisis a fortnight ago when the extent of the contact between the UK’s former ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson and the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was revealed. Since then, the PM has lost three of his most senior staff and faced a battle to stay in post himself.