Keir Starmer tells Rishi Sunak his time is up after local election defeats

Starmer: Blackpool has sent a message to Rishi Sunak

Sir Keir Starmer said voters had sent Rishi Sunak a clear call for change in the last big test of public opinion before a general election.

Labour took Blackpool South in a by-election by a huge margin and won target councils across England.

Mr Sunak admitted results so far were “disappointing” although his party retained the Tees Valley mayoralty.

Many more results are still to come – with nearly a half the 107 councils declared so far.

Sir Keir said the Blackpool result – a massive 26% swing to Labour – was a message to the Tory leader that it was time to move on and call a general election.

“That wasn’t just a little message, that wasn’t just a murmur, that was a shout from Blackpool – we want change.

“And Blackpool speaks for the whole country – it’s saying that we’ve had enough now.”