SIR Keir Starmer acknowledged May’s local elections are set to take place against an 'uncertain' backdrop amid the war in Iran as he talked up 'Labour values' at the party’s campaign launch in the West Midlands.
The Prime Minister said campaigners should be going to the doorstep telling the public to 'vote Labour because of our values, vote Labour because of our leadership'.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and most of his Cabinet filed into the event in Wolverhampton ahead of his speech.
Sir Keir said MPs and election candidates were 'fighting for Labour votes, for Labour values and Labour pride in whatever place you come from across the country – so important as we build a Britain for all'.
He continued: "The backdrop to these elections is uncertain.
"We’re facing a war on two fronts – the Ukraine war, now four-and-a-bit years in – and let’s salute the bravery of Ukrainians over so many years, both on the front line and the civilians, as they fight for the values that matter.
"And now the other front, the other war, which is the Iran war, which I know is causing huge concern.
"People look at their screens, and they’re worried when they see explosions, infrastructure blown up, the rhetoric that goes with it, worried about whether this is going to escalate even further."
Labour approaches the May 7 elections struggling in the polls and facing challenges from both Reform UK to the right and a resurgent Green Party to the left.
Hitting out at his rival parties, the Prime Minister said the UK would be 'in a war with no plan' if the Conservative or Reform UK leaders were in charge and that the UK would be 'weak and exposed' if Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch or Greens leader Zack Polanski were in power.
May’s local elections represent a major test for the Prime Minister, with some warning a disastrous result could spell the end of his premiership.
Pollster Lord Robert Hayward warned earlier in March that Labour faced a 'very substantial' threat, especially following a series of 'absolutely horrendous' council by-election results.
But Sir Keir will hope that a series of measures intended to help with the cost of living, including a lower energy price cap and an increase in the minimum wage, will translate into votes.
At the event, he stressed that his party understood that 'whatever is going on in the world, whatever is going on in politics, and there’s a lot in both, most people are concerned most of all about the cost of living'.
Sir Keir insisted Labour was going out into the campaign 'on the front foot'.
He concluded: "(We are) relishing the opportunity to go to doorsteps and say to people: 'Vote Labour for the following reasons: vote Labour because of our values, vote Labour because of our leadership. Vote Labour because it makes a huge difference to so many lives across the country."
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