Anti-Immigration Sentiment Rocks Starmer Government as Post-Brexit Britain Sinks Into Political Dilemma

Mounting calls within Labour for Starmer’s resignation after crushing local election defeat
Deepening dependence on foreign labor fuels political instability in Britain
Sweeping systemic overhaul needed to resolve labor shortages

Pressure is intensifying on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down following the ruling Labour Party’s crushing defeat in the U.K. local elections. More than 70 Labour lawmakers have openly demanded Starmer’s resignation, while calls for his departure are also emerging from within the Cabinet. Yet analysts warn that even if Starmer steps down, Labour’s crisis is unlikely to ease quickly. A full-scale leadership battle is already taking shape around potential successors, but unless Britain resolves the underlying dilemma of deep-rooted anti-immigration sentiment and chronic labor shortages, the country risks descending into another cycle of destructive power struggles that could ultimately hand power back to the opposition.

Starmer Under Pressure After Electoral Collapse

Labour-affiliated media outlet LabourList reported on the 13th local time that 79 Labour MPs had either demanded Starmer’s resignation or urged him to announce a timetable for stepping down. Labour currently holds 403 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, meaning roughly 19% of Labour lawmakers are now calling for the prime minister’s departure. According to The Guardian, Cabinet ministers are also urging Starmer to prepare for an orderly exit. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood reportedly advised Starmer on the 11th that he “must take responsibility for an orderly transfer of power.” The remarks effectively amounted to a demand for resignation to facilitate the formation of a new leadership team. The comments came only hours after Starmer publicly insisted he had no intention of stepping down.

The Guardian also reported that at least two other Cabinet ministers conveyed messages urging Starmer to resign “responsibly, with dignity and in an orderly manner.” The ministers were reportedly believed to include Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey, both regarded as close allies of Starmer. One Cabinet minister told The Guardian that “he must decide before tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting what decision he intends to make.”

Even before the election results were announced, calls within Labour for Starmer’s resignation had already been spreading. A week earlier, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband urged Starmer to present a timetable for his departure. Momentum behind the anti-Starmer movement accelerated after Labour lost 1,496 seats in the May 7 local elections, securing only 1,068 seats, or 21.2% of the total. Four Labour MPs serving in government departments including health, environment, and justice also resigned from their posts while calling for Starmer’s departure.

A More Fragile British Labor Market a Decade After Brexit

As Labour’s internal divisions deepen, competition among potential successors is intensifying. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner are among the leading contenders. Streeting is widely regarded as a figure backed by Labour’s centrist and center-right factions. Tony Travers, professor of politics at the London School of Economics, told Time magazine that “Streeting possesses capabilities Starmer lacks,” adding that “as health secretary, he has the ability to make the public understand his achievements.”

Burnham is currently viewed as Labour’s most popular politician. According to a YouGov poll, his favorability rating stands at 35%, far ahead of Starmer’s 19%. After serving nearly a decade as mayor of Greater Manchester, he has even earned the nickname “King of the North.” Rayner also remains a formidable contender. Coming from a low-income background and entering politics through work as a caregiver and trade union activist, she enjoys strong support among Labour’s left wing and grassroots membership.

The deeper problem, however, is that Labour’s crisis is unlikely to dissipate simply by replacing Starmer. British voters are increasingly focused on two overriding concerns: the economy and immigration. Public hostility toward Labour has effectively merged with broader anti-immigration sentiment. In a YouGov survey conducted in April, 54% of Britons identified the economy as the country’s most urgent issue, while 51% cited immigration. Only 15% positively evaluated the Labour government’s performance overall, while approval among Labour supporters themselves reached just 33%.

Britain’s anti-immigration sentiment has become even more complicated in the post-Brexit era. One of the principal drivers behind support for Brexit was frustration among Britons who believed migrants from Eastern Europe were taking their jobs. Many expected that leaving the European Union would reduce immigration, create more jobs for British workers, and alleviate labor shortages. Yet Britain’s labor shortage crisis failed to improve. Instead, staffing shortages in low-wage service sectors including healthcare, caregiving, logistics, construction, and hospitality became even more severe. A report by the British Parliament concluded that chronic labor shortages had persisted in sectors such as hospitality, food services, and construction following Brexit, while Oxford University’s Migration Observatory stated that the decline in low-skilled labor supply after Brexit delivered a direct shock to several industries.

Ultimately, Britain reduced its dependence on EU labor only to pivot toward expanded non-EU immigration as an alternative route. In recent years, the center of immigration growth into Britain has shifted away from Europe toward the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. Yet the rising share of non-European migrants has become a new source of social tension inside Britain. Analysts say this is precisely why Britain’s conservative bloc continues to aggressively target the issue. Many Britons still feel that the promise of regaining border control has not truly been fulfilled, and Reform UK — which secured sweeping victories in the recent local elections — has been actively harnessing that sentiment as political fuel. The Wall Street Journal described the rise of Reform UK as “a restructuring of anti-immigration populism capable of shaking the foundations of British politics itself.”

Cut Immigration and Labor Costs Surge; Maintain It and Political Burdens Intensify

Paradoxically, however, Britain’s economy is no longer structured in a way that allows immigration to be drastically reduced. The National Health Service (NHS) and the caregiving sector have already become heavily dependent on foreign labor. As of late last year, migrants accounted for 5.75 million adult workers in Britain, representing 19% of the workforce. Essential low-wage sectors including healthcare, caregiving, food manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, and food services remain unable to avoid cost inflation and supply disruptions without foreign workers, even after Brexit. Labor demand also remains elevated. The NHS continues to struggle with medical staffing shortages and patient backlogs numbering in the hundreds of thousands. According to British health authorities, NHS vacancies once exceeded 100,000 positions, while the caregiving industry continues to suffer from chronic labor shortages.

Above all, Britain’s labor shortage crisis is intertwined with population aging, weak productivity, and rising long-term economic inactivity. After Brexit, the British government pledged to transition “from a low-wage immigration economy to a high-wage, high-skilled economy,” but reality unfolded in the opposite direction. Under pressure from rising labor costs and worker shortages, British companies failed to generate sufficient automation, capital investment, and productivity innovation, ultimately reverting to filling labor gaps through overseas immigration. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) warned that “the British government’s immigration and skills policies are failing to keep pace with labor market realities.”

The dilemma now confronting British politics is increasingly clear. Moving aggressively to curb immigration in response to anti-immigration sentiment would likely trigger surging labor costs and worsening worker shortages. Essential sectors such as the NHS, caregiving, logistics, food production, and construction could face sharp cost escalation. Yet maintaining immigration levels would further strengthen the political momentum of anti-immigration parties. Reform UK has recently expanded rapidly by penetrating Labour’s traditional industrial strongholds in northern England during the local elections. Analysts also argue that working-class voters who once supported Brexit are again shifting politically through the channel of anti-immigration sentiment. Britain’s political system is therefore being squeezed from both directions, making it increasingly unlikely that simply replacing the prime minister will resolve the crisis. One official from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) stated that “what British voters are demanding is an answer to how the labor market and immigration system damaged after Brexit should be redesigned,” adding that “unless that answer is presented, governments are likely to remain trapped in destructive power struggles before eventually surrendering power altogether.”