Andy

Starmer: a decent man of integrity, hardworking. but a terrible politician, unable to communicate a vision or connect with people. Let’s hope Burnham, a people’s politician with strong values, can rescue the UK from its post-Brexit decade of stagnation and polarisation.

@ChillaxBcn Spot on. Massively overrated, just because he followed an absolute mess of a government and was utterly grey. He has wasted two years, during which we could have begun the process of getting the country back on track, rather than pretending Brexit didn't take it off track.

I don't consider myself to be far left and certainly not far right but given Starmer went from pro-EU and pro-FoM to 'make Brexit work' flipped my opinion about him completely. You either have integrity or you don't. Starmer doesn't! I don't hate him. I strongly dislike him.

@lewis_goodall It didn't ruin the moment (it didn't dominate, it was background), but he did successfully, artfully imo, demonstrate that our failure to accept either that: - we are poorer or - we must rejoin the SM/EU is why we are churning through PMs. This will continue until we do so.

Steve Bray blasting Ode to Joy, ruining nationally historic moments like this for us and posterity, is a complete disgrace. A yob.

@DavidCasaMEP This is true and I am pleased he did so. However, he had a low bar to clear after the previous government, and should have gone further. His fiscal & Brexit red lines left him powerless, he should have begun the process of reintegrating with, not just being polite to, the EU.

Keir Starmer’s tenure will be remembered for helping to rebuild a more constructive relationship between the UK and Europe after years of division. Democracy is strengthened when leaders understand that no office is permanent. I wish him well.

@IndBusNet It's over, just a matter of time before we begin the process to rejoin at least the single market, and probably the EU. People like you have wrecked the country, but we will rebuild it.

The British people were right to vote to leave the European Union. Our leaders need to have more confidence in Britain. We have performed better outside the EU, and if we slashed taxes, welfare, red tape and net zero we would boom. telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/…

@4thjulykid @LindaAizlewood @NickCohen4 Omg can't believe you still believe that is how it happened 😂 Do some research.

@NickCohen4 If Nick Clegg hadn't refused to work with Gordon Brown, we would have been a lot richer.

If Ed Miliband had won in 2015, no Brexit, no Truss and we'd all be a lot richer

@bmay I think this moment requires reflection, and giving the new PM a chance, not emotional outbursts. He was driving the car off the cliff. A new driver *might* be able to steer us in a better direction.

Well that marked the end of our brief two years as a serious country again. Well done everyone. Back to vibes, shits and giggles it is. Britain is done. I am ashamed.

@premnsikka 7th not 5th sadly. Brexit fundamentally to blame for all of them, even if other issues have helped. This will keep happening until we all accept that we are poorer as a consequence of Brexit, and must cut our cloth accordingly, or rejoin at least the single market.

Keir Starmer resigns as Prime Minister. UK to get fifth PM in a decade. First Past the Post system means that most of the country didn't vote for the ruling party. So, opposition is baked in. Don't be swayed by personality politics. Need as leader with emancipatory policies.

@HarryDecote @LukeTryl At least as strong as "Brexit is fine". But also backed by all the evidence that Brexit is obviously not fine. Please feel free to name some Brexit benefits to counteract the economic and social harm.

@andyofthings @LukeTryl Brilliant argument Andy . Compelling

🧵There’ll likely be a rush to call British public ungovernable in the wake of Starmer’s resignation. But blaming the voters is a cop out, and imo the reason for 5 PMs in 6 years is that all of them stuffed up in avoidable ways. Going through them:

@fodeballertoure @LukeTryl We always have to cut cloth. Even the most prosperous countries. But what Brexit *has* done, like it or not, has made us poorer in a relatively sudden, once in a lifetime way. The right will always want to cut spending & vice versa. Both have to face being poorer or rejoin.

@andyofthings @LukeTryl The idea that we wouldn’t have to ‘cut our cloth’ had we remained in the EU is unlikely. Public spending has gone haywire. It’s the inability to reckon with that reality that’s dooming governments not just here but on the continent as well.

@HarryDecote @LukeTryl Brexit is fine 😂 That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Brilliant!

@andyofthings @LukeTryl Yes and No . Brexit is fine . The problem is those that fall for the 8%GDP drop nonsense and want to re join . The 2016 vote affected those that don't like being told no . THey screamed /shouted/sulked funded the Good Law project applications . They need to sit down

@RichardJMurphy Depends whether he has the courage to be honest about our predicament. We are poorer due to Brexit and must therefore spend less or tax more, unless we rejoin at least the single market. That's it. Otherwise he will just be the 8th PM to resign/lose as a consequence of Brexit.

So, the obvious question to ask: Will Burnham be better prime minister than Starmer?

@BBCWorld Well done, you found one. However most people would vote to rejoin now, and it is really just a matter of time because the country would be significantly better off in the EU. The only question is how long we delay and much we diminish the UK in the process.

I was a remainer, but wouldn't vote to rejoin the EU bbc.in/4eGJAId

@donmcgowan Think even that would have been too late for Starmer. Should have come in with it in 2024 (e.g. indie review future of the economy inside and outside the SM + Russia report). But a big contra-Brexit move is surely the obvs way for Labour to be successful at the next election.

As the Prime Minister is speaking in Downing Street, I have an idea that might have saved his tenure. Announce that the UK is rejoining the EU. Nailed on next term for Labour.

@BenInRushcliffe @Liam_Holman99 All of that remains to be seen. Does he? For how long? What does he do about the red lines on Brexit? If he keeps them all, he won't succeed, but making an assessment now is not possible, we dont have enough, clear, information.

@andyofthings @Liam_Holman99 Burnham is keeping those fiscal rules

If Starmer is given more time, he could make more progress. This debacle itself is likely to turn many voters away from Labour.

@felicefan He's going because he boxed himself in with his own red lines on fiscal rules & Brexit. So he can't deliver outcomes to beat Reform. Until a PM is honest about what is needed (we are poorer so must cut our cloth, or rejoin at least the single market), it is an impossible job.

We don't deserve a decent PM. You get one who's done a lot of good and people start going on about things he hasn't done. Most of which, he can't. Or criticising his demeanour, as if that matters.

@RichardCroft12 @GordonFielden Because the vitriol levelled against many people here by bitter Starmerites has been rather unpleasant to experience as an onlooker, let alone as a target. Case in point, at the time of writing, this is the other response to your question...

@GordonFielden Why does she turn off replies?

Here’s Pippa with her wishful narrative again, rather than taking the time to explain a very simple fact: if Sir Keir Starmer were to resign, it would automatically trigger a Labour leadership election. There are plenty of potential candidates who could secure the required nominations and put themselves before the membership. Yet Pippa would rather leave people ignorant of the process and pretend that Andy Burnham simply walks into the leadership. That is not how the Labour Party’s rules work. What is also being ignored is that there are around 200 Labour MPs who have not publicly come out against Starmer. They have remained largely silent, and amongst them are several credible candidates who could seek the leadership while continuing the mandate on which Labour was elected. The reality is that Burnham does not automatically inherit that mandate. He would have to win a leadership election first. That is the transparent democratic process that should be reported, rather than endless speculation presented as fact. The members deserve to know how the process works, not be fed a narrative designed to make one outcome appear inevitable.

@GordonFielden @BraidseaQuine Starmer going is inevitable. She has said it is unclear whether it will be a coronation or a contest, which is true. Presumably Starmerites agree with this, otherwise they wouldn't be arguing so much against a coronation. I don't see anything unreasonable there.

@afneil That's for the negotiations. Until we start them we dont know and therefore this is just FUD.

What costs does it attach to Britain’s booming tech sector having to come under the ambit of the three/four major regulatory acts re digital developments Brussels has passed since we left? Acts which have stymied AI in the EU. If it accords none or v little it’s not worth the laptop on which it was written.