Under-fire Starmer to urge patience as he attacks hard right

Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will urge Labour members to keep faith with his plan for Britain in his speech to the party's annual conference on Tuesday, amid growing questions over his leadership.

Starmer has only been in power for 14 months after a landslide election win, but Labour is struggling to fight off soaring support for the hard-right party Reform UK.

And satisfaction among the UK public at how he is doing in the job has reached a "historic low" of just 13 percent, according to an Ipsos poll.

From a stage in Liverpool, Starmer will seek to convince lawmakers he is the right leader to take on the anti-immigrant Reform, led by anti-European Union firebrand Nigel Farage.

According to excerpts released ahead of his speech, Starmer was to say that Britain "stands at a fork in the road" between "renewal" offered by Labour or "grievance" offered by Reform.

"It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge," he was to tell delegates, urging patience.

Labour's four-day gathering is focused on taking the fight to Reform, as Starmer adopts a punchier tone towards the party while trying to offer a more optimistic vision for the future.

"We need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it's long, it's difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy, decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party.

"Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect," Starmer, 63, was expected to say.

Labour, beset by missteps and U-turns since it returned to power in July last year for the first time since 2010, lags 12 points behind Reform, according to the Ipsos poll published at the weekend.

The survey found Starmer had the lowest net approval rating for a prime minister since Ipsos started asking the question in 1977.

It found that Starmer was even more unpopular than ex-premier Rishi Sunak just before he led the Conservatives to their worst defeat in history at the 2024 vote.

- Leadership challenge? -

The next election is not expected until 2029, but in recent days Starmer has been forced to insist that he can turn around Labour's fortunes amid talk about leadership challenges.

Regional Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has urged Starmer to put forward a more leftist vision for Labour and has claimed that lawmakers have been urging him to run for leader, although he would first need to be elected as an MP and there is no opening currently.

Speculation is growing that a bad result in local elections next May, including in Scotland and Wales, could trigger a leadership challenge.

Jacob Hamer, an 18-year-old Labour member who attended the conference, backed Starmer to revive his party's fortunes.

"The old phrase is a week is a long time in politics, but I'd say a year is a short time in government. Frankly, policies take time," he told AFP, referencing pledges to boost health service appointments and rapidly speed up house-building.

But 53-year-old Jonathan Farr was not so confident -- he has a disability and was angered by the government's plan to cut a disability payment, before it dropped the idea after an outcry from left-wing MPs.

"I think people voted for change and they don't feel like they're getting it, unfortunately," he told AFP.

"I fear that come the day after the (May) elections, there will be a leadership challenge, or he'll resign, but either way, I can see something happening."