Starmer says 'I get it' after Labour's defeat at Runcorn

PM 'determined' to go 'further and faster'in delivering change

- NINA LLOYD, CAITLIN DOHERTY, HELEN CORBETT, DAVID HUGHES, GEORGE LITHGOW and HARRY STEDMAN

SIR Keir Starmer conceded Labour's loss to Reform UK in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election was “disappointing” and insisted he was determined to go “further and faster” in delivering change.

The Prime Minister told voters his party “get it; but defended what he claimed were the UK Government's “tough but right” decisions as new MP Sarah Pochin took the seat by a historically slim margin yesterday.

The result came as Reform also made gains against both Labour and the Conservatives across England in local polls, and took control of three councils, with leader Nigel Farage claiming a “big moment” was taking place in UK politics.

Reform’s by-election victory by just six votes set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the Second World War.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Bedfordshire yesterday after the result, Mr Starmer said: “What I want to say is, my response is we get it. We were elected in last year to bring about change.”

He said that his party has “started that work” such as bringing in measures to cut NHS waiting lists, adding: “I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see.”

Mr Starmer was asked by reporters whether he would reconsider unpopular policy changes, such as means-testing the winter fuel payment, amid murmurs of backbench discontent in the wake of the results.

“The reason that we took the tough but right decisions in the budget was because we inherited a broken economy,” he told Sky News.

“Maybe other prime ministers would have walked past that, pretended it wasn’t there... I took the choice to make sure our economy was stable.”