Sir Keir Starmer has opened his first meeting of the year with his top team with an appeal to unity amid ongoing speculation over whether he will be ousted by Labour MPs.
The beleaguered prime minister called for discipline and a focus on tackling the cost of living crisis as his cabinet gathered in Downing Street.
It comes as rumours persist around a potential leadership bid by health secretary Wes Streeting with reports that Scottish Labour MPs are asking him to take over as leader to prevent a wipeout in the crucial May elections.
Support for Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner as potential candidates has also continued to grow.
Just hours before the cabinet meeting, Mr Streeting was forced to rebuff claims he is pushing for Sir Keir’s job, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I’m certainly not talking about it (leadership speculation).”
Sir Keir told his senior ministers that their challenge for 2026 is to show “hard work, focus and determination” in helping to ease the financial burden on households.
With Labour facing a difficult set of elections in England, Scotland and Wales in May, the prime minister is under pressure to show results.
A new Yougov poll published on Tuesday has also seen Labour slip further to third place 17 per cent behind Nigel Farage’s Reform on 26 per cent and the Tories on 19 per cent. Labour is only just above the Greens on 15 per cent while the Lib Dems are on 16 per cent.
The attempt to focus on domestic matters also comes as Donald Trump and the US continues to threaten to annex Greenland and with Sir Keir set to join world leaders in Paris for a meeting of Ukraine’s allies.
He said: “Yes, there’s a world of uncertainty and upheaval, but tackling the cost of living remains and must remain our focus.”
The prime minister insisted the government’s measures were paying off, with increases in the minimum wage, the Bank of England’s reductions in interest rates and help with energy bills all helping ease the burden on squeezed household incomes.
Speaking at the meeting of the political cabinet – without civil service officials but with Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell and general secretary Hollie Ridley in attendance – he added: “This will be an important year as we show that renewal is becoming reality and that Britain is turning the corner.
“Getting our country back on track is hard, difficult work and we will reject the politics of easy answers and gimmicks that, frankly, got us here in the first place.”
With speculation persisting in Westminster about the possibility of Sir Keir facing a leadership challenge if Labour performs badly in May’s local and devolved parliamentary elections, the prime minister urged his cabinet to deliver results.
Mr Streeting is widely viewed as a potential successor and Sir Keir pointedly noted the need to demonstrate improvements in the NHS as he called for hard work and determination from across the cabinet.
“At the next general election we will be judged on whether we’ve delivered on things that really matter – do people feel better off, are public services improving, for which they will look to the NHS, and do people feel more safe and secure in their own community,” he said.
“They are the issues we will be judged on at the next general election, that is our focus.
“That will require hard work, focus and determination from all of us.
“Together, as a team, we will rise to that challenge and deliver for the whole country.”
Labour has plummeted in the opinion polls since the 2024 general election landslide, with Reform UK enjoying consistent leads and hopeful of successes in May’s contests in English councils and in Wales.
In Scotland, Labour faces a challenge from Reform as both parties seek to oust the SNP.