'I Get It': Keir Starmer Responds To By-Election Blow Amid Local Election Losses

Keir Starmer speaking to the BBC about the disappointing performance in RuncornKeir Starmer has told voters he “gets it” after a disappointing set of local election results for Labour.While the government managed to narrowly hold onto three mayoral seats,Reform UK won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.Nigel Farage’s party managed to overturn Labour’s 14,696 majority, winning the constituency with just six votes in a major humiliation to the government.Responding to the results on Friday, the prime minister said: “I could stand here and say Runcorn was close, we successfully defended three mayoralties, and the opposition parties tend to do well in these sorts of elections.“But I’m not going to do that. What I am going to do is to respond by saying: I get it.”Starmer claimed the government has started to deliver the change it was elected in on.He pointed out that NHS waiting lists are down, while wages are rising faster than prices and that interest rates are falling, all of which suggests that the “tough decisions” Labour has made are starting to pay off.The prime minister continued: “But the message I take out of these elections is that we need to go further and we need to go faster on the change people want to see. And that’s what I’m determined to do.”Asked if Reform UK were now the main challenge to Labour – rather than the Tories – he side-stepped the question.Instead, he pointed out that the government still believes the NHS should be free at the point of use while Nigel Farage’s party has suggested charging for the health service.“We’ve got to respond to these results by saying, ‘we get it’ and to say the change we promised must be delivered even faster, we must go even further,” Starmer said.“I’ve been saying this for weeks: I think this reinforces what I think is very clear in terms of the work we have got ahead.”He also defended his party’s controversial autumn Budget, where they chose to increase employers’ national insurance contributions.“The reason that we took the tough but right decisions in the Budget was because we inherited a broken economy,” the prime minister said.“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.”Related...Local Elections: Labour Infighting Begins As MPs Cast Blame For Poor PerformanceLabour Narrowly Sees Off Reform UK Surge To Win Mayoral ElectionsLocal Elections: Here's Why Party Leaders Are Watching Your Vote Closely

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