Starmer Insists He'll Lead Labour Into Next Election Amid Welfare Rebellion

Keir Starmer at the Nato press conference.Keir Starmer has insisted he will lead Labour into the next general election amid mounting criticism of his performance as prime minister.He is facing a huge backbench rebellion over plans to slash the welfare budget by £5 billion – leading to speculation that the crunch Commons vote on the measures could be pulled to avoid a humiliating defeat.More than 120 Labour backbenchers have signed a rebel amendment to kill off the policy, which has also been criticised by Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham.Labour MPs are now openly discussing the possibility that Starmer may be ousted as leader, just a year after he led the party to a landslide election victory.At a press conference at the Nato summit in The Hague, the PM was asked if he was confident of leading Labour into the next election, which is due in 2019.He said: “I’m very confident. We were elected in absolutely clearly saying we needed 10 years of national renewal. A decade of national renewal was what we were elected into with a huge majority.“It is really important that I lead from the front and take the long-term decisions about the future of our country.”Starmer also denied that the scale of the rebellion suggested that he was out of touch with his own MPs.He said: “Many people predicted before the election that we couldn’t read the room, we hadn’t got the politics right and we wouldn’t win an election after 2019 because we lost so badly.“That was the constant charge of me at press conferences like this, and we got a landslide victory. So I’m comfortable with reading the room and delivering the change the country needs.“We’ve got a strong Labour government with a huge majority to deliver on our manifesto commitments.”Starmer insisted the party was “pretty united” behind the government’s welfare reforms, and said he would press ahead despite the widespread opposition to them.He said: “We have got to make the reforms to our system. It isn’t working as it is.“It doesn’t work as it stands for people who desperately need help to get into work or for people who need protection. It is broken.“We were elected in to change that which is broken, and that’s what we will do, and that’s why we will press ahead with reforms.”Related...Exclusive: Commons Vote On Welfare Cuts Could Be Pulled To Avoid Humiliation For StarmerAndy Burnham Urges Starmer To 'Listen To Labour MPs' And Ditch Welfare CutsKeir Starmer Says He Won't Back Down On Welfare Cuts As Labour Rebellion Grows

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