Scottish Labour leader calls for Starmer to stand down

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called for Sir Keir Starmer to step down as prime minister.

During an emergency news conference at 2.30pm, he said: "The leadership in Downing Street has to change. "It is so obvious that we desperately need change in Scotland and in three months time, the opportunity to get rid of a failing SNP government is one that is too important to be missed.

"We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland, because the election in May is not without consequence for the lives of Scots." Politics latest: Cabinet ministers back Starmer Mr Sarwar called Sir Keir "a decent man" and said it is "no secret that I have always got on well with him". He described him as a friend, but said he needed to decide "what I'm willing to accept and what I'm willing to tolerate".

He said he was not backing any specific replacement, but said there had been "too many incidents where the wrong judgement calls have been made". And he revealed he had spoken to Sir Keir earlier in the day, adding: "I think it's safe to say that he and I disagreed." In the hour after Mr Sarwar's shock pronouncement, all members of Sir Keir's cabinet - plus former deputy PM Angela Rayner and deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell - posted their support of him on X.

The Scottish Labour leader is the most senior Labour voice to call for Sir Keir to go. He follows several backbenchers who called on the PM to resign following more revelations about Lord Mandelson's links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Sir Keir's leadership looks to be in freefall after his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney resigned on Sunday over his role in appointing Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Tim Allan, his director of communications, then quit on Monday morning, saying he wants to "allow a new No 10 team to be built".

However, Sir Keir's spokesman insisted he was "upbeat and confident" and would not be resigning today. Mr Sarwar, who is from the same wing of Labour as the PM, had previously remained quiet about his feelings on how the government is working in Westminster, but as the Holyrood elections approach in May, he appears to want to distance himself from his party's leader.

His unexpected intervention came just hours before Sir Keir addresses his MPs at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting in Westminster on Monday evening..