My latest focus groups took place in Plymouth, Exeter, Mansfield and Rushcliffe, where voters from a range of political backgrounds reflected on Keir Starmer’s resignation, the ascent of Andy Burnham, and whether any of it would make any difference.
Most in our groups agreed that Starmer had to go, even if they had some sympathy with him or he could achieve results given more time. For them, the loss of confidence within the Labour party and in the country more widely made his departure inevitable: “I’m not anti-Starmer. I think if he had long enough, potentially he would do something. But I’ve just lost confidence in him;” “He was arrogant enough to try and hang on. But the majority was so overwhelming he had to fall on his sword;” “I thought, that’s really sad. I felt they’d kind of railroaded him out. But there was no way he could have stayed;” “It’s not ideal because it just looks like an unstable country yet again. But it would have dragged on for ages.”
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