Getty ImagesBy Laura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura KuenssbergKeir Starmer’s success was sketched across the map of England at the local elections last week. The Labour leadership is bouncing from nabbing another of the Tories’ MPs, Natalie Elphicke – and polling since the council results puts him further ahead than ever.What could possibly go wrong for him? A lot, actually. The general election is still months away and there are plenty of potential pitfalls between Starmer and the shiny black door of No 10. Don’t get complacent First, conversations across the Labour Party suggest the danger of taking victory for granted – being complacent – is the number one risk. A shadow minister warns: “People sometimes act as if it’s already happened… not realising the scale of effort required to do that.” A source tells me holiday was cancelled at Labour HQ in December, until July, with all staff expected to be on standby for a general election. There’s no taking it easy now: a similar edict is in place from September to December.Sir John Curtice: Do local election results point to a hung Parliament?Kuenssberg: Are Tories resigned to electoral fate under Sunak?Local election results in full”We have to keep our discipline and keep on our message,” says another insider. That discipline is important in avoiding the kind of public sparring between colleagues that was all too common in the bruising Corbyn era, and which the public doesn’t like. It’s important in avoiding stray comments that would give opponents ammo to attack – just look at how the Conservatives played with Labour’s wavering over its now retired vow to spend £28bn a year on the economy going green.But it’s also important because if a Labour victory is hammered into people’s expectations, that could affect how the election campaign is fought. “If everyone thinks we are getting a thumping great majority, you end up with the campaign being a referendum on Labour,” one source says. Instead, “we want it to be about the threat of five more years of the Tories”.Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg’s expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you.Another senior figure tells me: “What you hear is that people think they are voting Labour because they don’t want the Tories – rather than enthusiastically voting for us.” The party would love there to be more excitement about them. But some insiders want the focus to stay on the Conservatives, who are struggling, and a choice between the two big parties.With that in mind, Labour was only too happy for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to claim that the local election results suggested the country was on course for a hung parliament. They were pleased for the public to be reminded that a Labour victory is not a foregone conclusion.Don’t get rattledSecond, while the Tories have been stuck in the doldrums in the polls for months, Labour cannot predict or control much of what happens before the election. On 6 October last year, the world didn’t know what was about to happen in Israel. The shocking events of 7 October and the intense conflict since then has unsettled many in the Labour Party. The local elections confirmed the leadership’s attitude to war in Gaza affected votes in some areas, and unhappiness over foreign policy feels something of a proxy for general grumpiness on the left. There is just no telling what other events could provoke further disagreement, or what unexpected events could shift the polls. The better economic news of the last few days also helps the Conservatives to make their planned argument – that the country has turned a corner, and that Labour would put that at risk. And of course the Conservatives are looking for any Labour vulnerabilities to push.On this week’s show are the Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster generalThe actor Dominic West also joins the show to talk about his new West End showWatch live on BBC One and iPlayer from 09:00 BST on SundayFollow latest updates in text and video on the BBC News website from 08:30Viewers can send questions or comments to @bbclaurak on x or instagram and e …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnGetty ImagesBy Laura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura KuenssbergKeir Starmer’s success was sketched across the map of England at the local elections last week. The Labour leadership is bouncing from nabbing another of the Tories’ MPs, Natalie Elphicke – and polling since the council results puts him further ahead than ever.What could possibly go wrong for him? A lot, actually. The general election is still months away and there are plenty of potential pitfalls between Starmer and the shiny black door of No 10. Don’t get complacent First, conversations across the Labour Party suggest the danger of taking victory for granted – being complacent – is the number one risk. A shadow minister warns: “People sometimes act as if it’s already happened… not realising the scale of effort required to do that.” A source tells me holiday was cancelled at Labour HQ in December, until July, with all staff expected to be on standby for a general election. There’s no taking it easy now: a similar edict is in place from September to December.Sir John Curtice: Do local election results point to a hung Parliament?Kuenssberg: Are Tories resigned to electoral fate under Sunak?Local election results in full”We have to keep our discipline and keep on our message,” says another insider. That discipline is important in avoiding the kind of public sparring between colleagues that was all too common in the bruising Corbyn era, and which the public doesn’t like. It’s important in avoiding stray comments that would give opponents ammo to attack – just look at how the Conservatives played with Labour’s wavering over its now retired vow to spend £28bn a year on the economy going green.But it’s also important because if a Labour victory is hammered into people’s expectations, that could affect how the election campaign is fought. “If everyone thinks we are getting a thumping great majority, you end up with the campaign being a referendum on Labour,” one source says. Instead, “we want it to be about the threat of five more years of the Tories”.Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg’s expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you.Another senior figure tells me: “What you hear is that people think they are voting Labour because they don’t want the Tories – rather than enthusiastically voting for us.” The party would love there to be more excitement about them. But some insiders want the focus to stay on the Conservatives, who are struggling, and a choice between the two big parties.With that in mind, Labour was only too happy for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to claim that the local election results suggested the country was on course for a hung parliament. They were pleased for the public to be reminded that a Labour victory is not a foregone conclusion.Don’t get rattledSecond, while the Tories have been stuck in the doldrums in the polls for months, Labour cannot predict or control much of what happens before the election. On 6 October last year, the world didn’t know what was about to happen in Israel. The shocking events of 7 October and the intense conflict since then has unsettled many in the Labour Party. The local elections confirmed the leadership’s attitude to war in Gaza affected votes in some areas, and unhappiness over foreign policy feels something of a proxy for general grumpiness on the left. There is just no telling what other events could provoke further disagreement, or what unexpected events could shift the polls. The better economic news of the last few days also helps the Conservatives to make their planned argument – that the country has turned a corner, and that Labour would put that at risk. And of course the Conservatives are looking for any Labour vulnerabilities to push.On this week’s show are the Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster generalThe actor Dominic West also joins the show to talk about his new West End showWatch live on BBC One and iPlayer from 09:00 BST on SundayFollow latest updates in text and video on the BBC News website from 08:30Viewers can send questions or comments to @bbclaurak on x or instagram and e …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
