Under-fire Starmer risks losing his grip on Labour

From welfare cuts to immigration, Keir Starmer is stoking the anger of his MPs, says Andrew Grice and his deputy leader has made no secret of her desire to be PM one day

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In the aftermath of Labour's landslide at last year's general election, the joy and optimism among the party's band of 412 MPs was infectious. The newbie Labour MPs I met for the first time seemed an impressive bunch. With Keir Starmer enjoying a majority of 174, they had every reason to think his hopes for "a decade of renewal" could be realised.

Only 10 months later, the mood inside the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is transformed. Some of the excited MPs I met last summer are now gloomy and pessimistic. They have small majorities, and think the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK means they are likely to lose their seats after only one five-year term.

Some of the brightest stars have been fast-tracked into government posts to ensure their loyalty. But there are not enough jobs to go round, and backbenchers spooked by Reform's advance in this month's local elections in England have started to air in public their private doubts about Starmer's strategy or apparent lack of one.

They have openly challenged the prime minister over two controversial decisions which cost Labour dearly on 1 May means-testing the pensioners' winter fuel allowance, and £5bn of cuts to disability and sickness benefits. A third wound was added on Monday when Starmer was accused of aping Enoch Powell by warning the UK risks becoming "an island of strangers" as he unveiled a white paper on immigration.

As one Labour insider told me: "MPs who previously accepted Keir had a difficult hand to play and gave him the benefit of the doubt are now saying: 'We didn't sign up for this.' They feel they have nothing to lose by speaking out." The gear change was illustrated when the 45-strong Red Wall Group, representing seats in the North and Midlands, issued a strongly worded statement urging the government to "act now before it's too late", and warning that losing the red wall again would mean "a future of opposition and an existential crisis".