Last Wednesday evening’s Full Council meeting at Crawley Borough Council will be remembered for every one of Labour’s twenty-five Councillors being on the wrong side of history, by failing to back my motion that was seeking support from the council to formally call for Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister.

Everyone knows Starmer is on borrowed time.  This vote was the evening before the Denton and Gorton parliamentary byelection that saw Labour come an unprecedented third in what was at the 2024 general election, one of the safest Labour seats in the country.  This result was devastating for Labour, with the Green Party victory showing the whole country that there is now a viable left-wing alternative to Labour that can win elections, which is very bad news for Labour.

At the meeting, it was clear that some very uncomfortable truths were being presented by my colleagues and I, as Labour Councillors proposed a move so that they could vote to prematurely curtail the debate.  They even objected and tried to stop me as the motion proposer, from summing up at the end of the (now shortened) debate, such was their discomfort of hearing how their leader is causing chaos and confusion through all tiers of government.  This includes our local authorities in Crawley and West Sussex, through Labour’s poorly planned local government reorganisation that will see our councils start to be wound down in just over a year’s time.

For many people, the appointment of Peter Mandelson when Keir Stermer knew he was the best pal of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was the final straw.  Last Friday after the by-election, Labour MPs started their moves to replace Keir Starmer, but war breaking out in the Middle East will likely buy Starmer a little time, but only until May’s local elections at most.               

In those local elections, while desperately trying to save Starmer, I suspect Labour will claim in Crawley that only they can stop Reform, like they falsely claimed in their leaflets for last week’s by-election.  The reality for much of Crawley is that only voting Conservative will stop Reform.     

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

4th March 2026