Starmer's response to those calling for his resignation after local election disaster: 'It's a ten-year project'

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to stay in power and said his government is a “10-year project” despite calls for him to resign following his party's crushing defeat in local elections this week.

Starmer's Labor Party suffered its worst local election loss for a governing party in more than three decades, prompting a growing number of MPs to call for his sacking.

A former minister in Starmer's government has said she will seek the support of other MPs to trigger a contest for a new party leader unless her cabinet moves to sack him by Monday.

Asked by The Observer newspaper in an interview published on Sunday if he would lead the Labor Party into the next general election and serve a second full term, Starmer said: “Yes, I will.”

He added: “I'm not going to give up the office I was elected to in July 2024. I'm not going to throw the country into chaos.”

If Starmer is sacked in the coming weeks, Britain would have its seventh prime minister in a decade.

“We got a real hit, we can't deny it”

So far, Starmer's cabinet has remained loyal to the prime minister despite Thursday's election defeats.

Bridget Phillipson, the education minister, said she was confident the prime minister could turn things around, telling Sky News on Sunday that Starmer would set a “new direction” for Britain in a speech on Monday.

“We got a real blow from the voters, we can't deny that. We need to seriously reflect on this,” she said.

Catherine West, who served as deputy foreign minister until Starmer sacked her last year, said she would listen to Starmer's speech on Monday before making a final decision on whether to seek the support of the 81 MPs needed to trigger a party leadership contest.

Asked on Sunday if he was likely to get the necessary number of votes, West told the BBC: “We'll find out.”

Starmer must call the next UK national election by 2029 at the latest.