Keir Starmer vows to prove doubters wrong in make-or-break leadership speech

Keir Starmer has said he will prove his doubters wrong as he warned Labour was facing “very dangerous opponents” in a make-or-break speech, with leadership rivals on the brink of a challenge. Starmer said he would fight any leadership challenge and would not “walk away” from his responsibilities as prime minister. He promised he would seek a new deal with the EU including a sweeping youth mobility scheme, as well as nationalising British steel and promising a beefed-up youth guarantee of jobs and apprenticeships. But he warned his critics in the party they risked opening the door to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and said it was time to take a more robust approach to the right. “We are not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents, very dangerous opponents,” he said, saying Labour was the last defence against the country heading down a “very dark path”. He said he would ban “far-right agitators” from coming to Britain to speak at a nationalist march on Saturday. “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, because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens,” he said. “We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest.” Labour MPs have said they believe the health secretary, Wes Streeting, could imminently launch a leadership challenge. …