What people on Darlington's Starmer Crescent think of the PM

Some neighbours on Starmer Crescent, just off Neasham Road, are among his biggest doubters and have little love for the PM, who is facing calls from his party for him to step down after Labour faced a drubbing at the local elections.

More than 40 MPs are calling for his resignation, including some from the North East.

The mood was not friendly on Starmer Crescent for Sir Keir. One resident, who had spotted the Echo talking to people about the embattled PM, drove past with his window down and shouted: "Keir's a joke!"

If you were looking for a sweeping endorsement of the PM you may struggle, but neighbour Jean said: "He's not great, but which of them are suitable?

On Starmer Crescent, the best the PM could muster was 'he's not great, but which of them are suitable?' (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

"They aren't going to do much better. So I think, stick with what you know."

There was no local election in Darlington last week, but dismal results saw Labour lose almost 1,500 English councillors, go backwards in Scotland and slump to third in Wales, with one MP threatening to call a leadership election if no action was taken to oust Sir Keir.

Graham Spencer, 77, used to work in newspaper production, and thought Sir Keir was "absolutely useless."

"He is a lawyer, he isn't a politician. He shouldn't be in the job, but the Labour Party haven't got a way of getting rid of him.

Graham Spencer, 77, said the PM should resign. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

"He is still obsessed with Europe, but nobody wants to talk about that - we came out of Europe didn't we?"

Another critic of Sir Keir was 45-year-old housewife Rachel, who described him as a "raving lunatic," and called for a Churchill-like figure to take over the reins in Downing Street.

"I would like to see him go, ASAP," she said.

"He's not patriotic, I think he only cares about the immigrant population."

Apathy was another key fixture on the doorsteps of Starmer Crescent, with several people unhappy with politics in general.

"They aren't interested in people like us," one woman said.

"I can't see him doing anything for the working class. Shopping is expensive. You can't live.

"He should definitely resign, look at the state he's got the country in."

Meanwhile, Jillian, a former NHS worker who left due to ill health, said she wanted whoever replaced Starmer to protect the welfare state, even though she doubted that would happen.

"Yes, he should resign, but who would we get?" the 52-year-old said.

"Every time anybody gets in, the first thing they want to do is cut benefits. They don't realise that some genuine people actually really rely on that money."

Starmer Crescent in Darlington. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

For Jillian, Starmer was 'the best of a bad bunch' at the 2024 general election - "Even now I would struggle with who to vote for, they just promise and don't deliver."

Labour won back the Darlington constituency from the Conservative Party two years ago, with a majority of 2,298.

Facing down those calling for his resignation, Sir Keir said in a speech pleading for more time to save his job on Monday (May 11): “I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including in my own party.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. (Image: James Manning / PA)

“I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong, and I will.”

Sir Keir cast the current political moment as a “battle for the soul” of the UK, warning that if Labour failed the country would head down “a very dark path”.

He said: “This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation and I want to be crystal clear about how we will win it because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens.

“We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest.”