Premiership of Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 5 July 2024 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party. As prime minister he is serving concurrently as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Minister for the Union.

Starmer, who has been Leader of the Labour Party since 2020, was appointed prime minister after the Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 2024 general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative governance, becoming the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown in 2010 and the first Labour leader to win a general election since Tony Blair in 2005, but with the smallest share of the electoral vote of any majority government since record-keeping of the popular vote began in 1830. The 2025 local elections in England were the first local elections of Starmer's premiership, and in them both Labour and the Conservatives suffered significant losses, with gains achieved by Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.

Under Starmer's premiership, the government has ended certain Winter Fuel Payments for around 10 million people, implemented an early-release scheme for thousands of prisoners to reduce prison overcrowding, settled a number of public-sector strikes and announced the establishment of Great British Energy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, introduced the largest tax rises at a budget since March 1993 in her October 2024 budget, which is forecast to set the tax burden to its highest level in recorded history. Starmer announced the Border Security Command to replace the defunct Rwanda asylum plan and the National Violent Disorder Programme in response to the 2024 riots, as well as reforms to workers' rights. In foreign policy, Starmer has supported Ukraine against the Russian invasion and initially supported Israel in the Gaza war, but has since called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and condemned Israel's actions. In September 2025, his government formally recognised the State of Palestine.

Starmer has been viewed unfavourably by the British public during his tenure as prime minister, following several controversies including changes to the Winter Fuel Payments, planned disability cuts, the island of strangers speech and the Peter Mandelson-Jeffrey Epstein scandal. His net approval rating began slightly positive, but fell from 5% after the election to -30% by January 2025 before levelling off until April 2025 when it began to decline further, reaching -32% by November that year. A poll found 35% of the public were satisfied with Starmer's job performance, 65% dissatisfied, giving a net approval rating of minus 30. Starmer's average net approval remained higher than Boris Johnson's during the Partygate scandal, Jeremy Corbyn's when he resigned as Labour leader and when Liz Truss resigned as prime minister. Starmer's unpopularity has been tied to poor results for Labour in the 2025 United Kingdom local elections. Likewise, the party has garnered poor polling numbers ahead of the 2026 United Kingdom local elections, 2026 Scottish Parliament election and 2026 Senedd election. Starmer has remained defiant, stating he had "won every fight I've ever been in" and refused to walk away.