Though the Labour retained mayoralties of London, Liverpool and Greater Manchester, its losing the County Durham to the Conservatives for the first time since 1925 is the most significant setback for the party. Even supporters of Starmer are finding it hard to defend their leader. Labour has lost control of one of the party's most symbolic heartlands for the first time in a century. Durham Council was the first county hall to go red in 1919 and had been in continuous control by Labour since 1925. The region was at the centre of the Miners' Strike of the 1980s and its Miners' Gala is still a fixture in the UK's socialist calendar.

The situation has been aggravated by Starmer who acting whimsically sacked Angela Rayner as the party's chair and campaigns co-ordinator accusing her that she could not steer the party to victory. This act of Starmer has come under strict of the labour leaders and close aides of Starmer has even impressed upon him to undo the wrong. They argue that Rayner who is supposed to close to Corbyn would be assigned some other major responsibility.

However, ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell and MP Jon Trickett, whom Starmer sacked from the shadow cabinet when he became leader last year, tweeted emphatically argue that she had been made a "scapegoat". They even categorically assert: "We must go for leadership challenge" Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott described Starmer’s action as "baffling". One MP branded the sacking "utterly idiotic". “Rayner was a stalwart of the Corbyn era but also had broad support from Labour's base winning double the votes of her nearest rival for deputy leader.

Though Starmer has been on sacking free he also concedes that Labour has lost the trust of working people. This statement of his has only added to the resolve of his detractors to remove him from the post.

Meanwhile, to keep the rebels away the Labour leader, who called the local election results “bitterly disappointing”, is considering moving party’s headquarters out of London to reflect Labour’s determination to show that it represents the whole country. This logic is nevertheless outright dismissed by detractors. They point out that this a tactical move of Starmer to hide his failures. They argue that party was having its HQ for pretty long time.

The supporters of Corbyn and members of Momentum however accuse Starmer of not having a policy stand towards the problems the country was facing. These people allege that poverty was on rise and lakhs of youths were without jobs, but Starmer has not bothered to challenge Boris Johnson government on such issues. On an average one in seven people are currently out of work. There are areas of the city in which child poverty is about 50%. The young people across Britain want the minimum wage to increase, but do not know either what Labour stands for or what a trade union is.

The recrimination at the top of labour has acquired an alarming proportion. The Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood, who recently resigned as a shadow defence minister, said the election results reflected the fact Labour had left its traditional voters behind. In an article for the thinktank Policy Exchange, he wrote; “A London-based bourgeoisie, with the support of brigades of woke social media warriors, has effectively captured the party. Their politics – obsessed with identity, division and even tech utopianism – have more in common with those of Californian high society than the kind of people who voted in Hartlepool yesterday.”

The moods of the labour leaders are quite low as the results made it abundantly clear that Labour was losing support in traditional heartlands. Of course Starmer owned responsibility for the losses, the cadres and leaders are not ready to believe him. He said; “Very often we’ve been talking to ourselves, instead of to the country, and we’ve lost the trust of working people”.

A spokesperson for Momentum, the Corbyn-allied Labour group, said: “The leadership are reacting to this disaster by promising ‘more change’ – but over the last year we’ve gone backwards. It’s time to change direction. Jeremy Corbyn cannot be blamed for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership.”

Starmer also sacked the chief whip, Nick Brown, a veteran of both the Brown and Corbyn years. In fact Starmer has once again made it clear through his actions that whoever subscribe to Left ideas and Marxism has no place in the party. However to keep his face shinning he said the party would refocus on bold ideas and the priorities of the British people. “The Labour party must be the party that embraces the demand for change across our country,” he said. “Just as the pandemic has changed what is possible and what is necessary, so Labour must change too.”

The Leftwing leaders have already initiated the move to collect signatures for Starmer’s ouster. Labour MPs are meanwhile keeping a close watch on the byelection in Batley and Spen, triggered by the MP Tracy Brabin winning the post of West Yorkshire mayor and stepping down from parliament, creating a vacancy. If it was lost to the Tories it would be likely to spark panic in the Labour .

While the Tories are striving to reform ridding themselves of moderate element and embracing their nationalist instincts the Labour is moving in a bind. The leadership is not clear about their goal. The fact is Labour party is disintegrating, as it has lost the confidence of the “working classes”. This portrays the working classes as a mass of hapless individuals being tossed around in a sea of uncertainty.

If Starmer is to succeed he must build relations with the Left wing. Simplistic narratives of Labour being “too left wing” not only collapse when tested against reality, they also drive away the committed members and voters. The time is changing fast and the leaders like Starmer ought to realise that time has come to challenge the rightist forces else they will be dumped into the pages of the history. The economy and society has changed and they must evolve new mechanism to win elections. The party must empower the members that are willing to take a socialist message into communities and adopting policies that offer solutions to the contemporary challenges.

After Hartlepool defeat Corbyn has led a left-wing backlash against Starmer’s leadership. He tweeted: “Tory gains are bad news for jobs, the environment & public services for the many not the few. With millions not voting, these results show a loss of hope. We must offer a bolder vision to transform people’s lives and give them the confidence to strive for a more equal world. (IPA Service)