United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to stay in office and take action on "the big challenges facing the country" after his Labour Party suffered huge losses in last week's local elections, with voter unhappiness at his leadership being identified as a vital factor.

Local elections have no effect on the makeup of the national parliament, but the results, coming after nearly two years of Labour rule, are a clear expression of nationwide sentiment toward the central government.

Across England, hundreds of Labour councilors lost their seats. In elections for the Welsh Parliament, known as the Senedd, the party suffered its worst-ever results. In Scotland too, it performed poorly, prompting Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to repeat his call, first made in February, for Starmer to step down.

In a speech to Labour members of parliament on Monday, Starmer acknowledged that he had "doubters" and "some people are frustrated with me … I know I need to prove them wrong and I will".

The government would "face up to the big challenges" and "make the big arguments" to try and persuade voters that theirs was the best way forward, he said.

He also picked out the populist policies of the left-wing Green Party and right-wing Reform UK, which enjoyed significant success in the local elections, saying: "We're battling the despair on which they (play), despair that they exploit and amplify. And so analysis matters, argument matters, but so too does emotion ... people need hope."

One Labour member, Paula Barker, has said she will challenge Starmer unless he steps aside. She told BBC Breakfast that the UK"had stopped listening" to him and that he was "a very nice man but he's an awful politician".

"It's becoming increasingly clear that our Labour government can no longer succeed if we have Keir at the helm," she said.

Barker has never held a senior position, so her challenge would be symbolic rather than meaningful, but if she goes through with her threat, it will give Starmer's opponents an opportunity to make their position clear.

The person regarded as his most serious rival, Andy Burnham, who stood as a candidate to be Labour leader in 2015, is currently not a member of parliament, having quit Westminster in 2017 to seek election as mayor of Greater Manchester, a post in which he is serving his third term.

julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com