Keir Starmer kicks off Labour’s local election campaign with promise to ‘fight’

However, polling predictions suggest Labour could suffer net losses of 1,900, with Reform UK gaining 2,260 wards and the Green Party picking up an extra 450.

After being asked if he was “looking down the barrel of a bloodbath”, Sir Keir said: “Well, you’ve seen the energy in the room here.

“Our candidates, our members, are really geared up for this and we’re going to go out there and fight for every vote. We know we need to earn every vote, we go into the battle in good spirits.

“But of course the backdrop is a war on two fronts and so people will be looking at Labour for leadership and being absolutely clear that we’re not getting dragged into that war, we will of course defend ourselves and our allies, and that we do know that the cost of living is the issue that people worry about most.

“So we go in good spirits, against an uncertain backdrop globally, but if we can show our values, our positivity, what we have done and what we will do, then as I say no vote has been cast yet, every vote is there to be earned and we need to go out and earn it.”

Labour is searching for an electoral boost on May 7, having already tasted defeat in crunch by-elections held in Runcorn & Helsby and Gorton & Denton.

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Despite the 2025 Local Elections proving particularly catastrophic for Kemi Badenoch’s Tories, Labour also lost 187 council seats as Reform made huge inroads across England.

However, Sir Keir used his launch event in Wolverhampton to swipe at Labour’s closest rivals.

Turning his attention to Zack Polanski’s Green Party, the Prime Minister said: “You’ve got Polanski – he thinks that, with a war on two fronts, now is the time to give up our Nato membership, now is the time to start negotiating with Putin over our nuclear deterrent.

“We’d be left so weak and so exposed if any of those individuals were in Government, and it’s really important that we stick to our principles, stick to our values and we show the leadership that’s needed in a time like this.”

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Meanwhile, Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell used her speech in Wolverhampton to put pressure on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Taking direct aim at the Reform UK leader, Ms Powell said: “He thinks the economic status quo is working just fine and what we need is a few more tax breaks for the richest and eventually it will trickle down to everybody else.

“He’s wrong about that, he doesn’t have our values in what he is doing. And let’s not let Reform run any more councils than they are already doing.

“They’re cutting children’s services and they’re cutting the early years. We can’t have that, that is what is at stake in these elections.”

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However, fears of a Labour bloodbath on May 7 risk putting Sir Keir’s premiership on the brink.

Speaking to GB News earlier this month, polling guru Scarlett Maguire said: “We have seen a small bounce for Keir Starmer in the polls, however, he remains overwhelmingly unpopular.

“It is unlikely that they can use the ongoing crisis in the Middle East as a way to turn around their fortunes, especially if the cost of living here gets worse as a result.”

She added: “Internally, Keir Starmer’s position does seem to be stablising relative to earlier in the year.”

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“The question will be whether he is able to survive what is likely to be a very bad night for Labour on May 7.”

A Labour rebel also told GB News: “I think May 7 will be a reminder that he’s hopeless.”

However, GB News understands that Labour rebels remain somewhat hesitant about both ex-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Ms Rayner still needs to iron out her ongoing dispute with HMRC over stamp duty payments, while Mr Streeting’s connection to Lord Mandelson is proving problematic.