Unhappy Labour Families? The 3 Issues Already Casting Clouds Over Keir Starmer's New Year

It’s only the first week of 2026 and already the strains within the Labour Party are already starting to emerge.

Keir Starmer has tried to start off with a clean slate, telling his first cabinet meeting of the new year that the focus would be on the cost of living crisis.

He promised senior ministers: “Yes there’s a world of uncertainty and upheaval, but tackling the cost of living remains and must remain our focus.”

But how does reality match up to that claim?

1. Backlash Over UK’s Venezuela Response

Labour backbenchers have been furious over the government’s lacklustre response to Donald Trump’s military strikes on Venezuela.

He also seized the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and has now promised that the US will “run” Venezuela until a safe transition of power can take place.

MPs have raged over the government’s refusal to describe the White House’s move as a breach of international law.

In the Commons on Monday evening – the first day back after the Christmas break – three of Starmer’s former colleagues who sat alongside him in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet tore into him.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told home secretary Yvette Cooper that part of upholding international law is calling out other breaches of it.

“I found it shameful that the prime minister and ministers today in the news rounds have refused to condemn this action,” he said. “By not condemning it, Trump will interpret this to go in wherever and to steal the national assets of those countries.”

Former shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgon, also said: “The prime minister is willing to ditch the international law and sidestep the United Nations charter in order to appease Donald Trump. Doesn’t this cowardly craven approach drag this country’s reputation in the dirt.”

Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott then called out the government too, saying: “You cannot have a situation where a bigger and stronger country walks into a smaller country, snatches its political leadership, helicopters it out and puts it on a show trial.

“That cannot be something this government is prepared to support.”

Home secretary Yvette Cooper simply replied: “Support for a rules-based international law is a central part of our foreign policy and the decisions that we take.”

The government has said it is waiting for the US justification for its strikes on Venezuela, but ministers “shed no tears” for the end of Maduro’s regime.

2. Scottish Labour Tells Starmer To Stay Away

Labour leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar urged the prime minister to keep his distance ahead of the Scottish parliament elections in May.

He said: “I would say the best thing that Keir Starmer and the UK Labour government can do is be behind their doors and in their departments getting things right and changing our outcomes.”

Asked during a speech in Edinburgh if he wanted the PM’s help to campaign, Sarwar said the government’s policy U-turns had left voters “angry, frustrated and impatient” and that Labour are now the underdogs ahead of May’s election.

He also pointed out the party have failed to communicate its achievements to voters, like reducing NHS waiting lists, but have cut through with their mistakes – such as the winter fuel payment debacle.

An Ipsos poll from December uncovering voting intentions for the Scottish Parliament put the SNP in the lead on 35%, Reform UK in second with 18% and Scottish Labour trailing on 16%.

3. Ongoing Leadership Battles

Wes Streeting, health secretary, entered the new year bolstered with fresh speculation that he was going to throw his hat into the ring to be the next prime minister.

Reports on Sunday suggested he could make a dash for it before the May elections, although Streeting has played down such rumours, insisting he would not be talking about it on Tuesday’s broadcast round.

Meanwhile, polling guru Sir John Curtice told The Independent that Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is Labour’s best hope of keeping Reform’s Nigel Farage out of No.10.

He said Curtice accused the prime minister of not having a vision for the UK and said he does not think Starmer can “learn to be a politician”.

Curtice said: “Andy Burnham is probably still the best possibility, but there are many barriers in his way.

“If you look at his popularity, both within and outside the Labour Party, his popularity is clearly more extensive than any of the other candidates.”

Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is also expected to be a frontrunner if Starmer were to step down, along with home secretary Shabana Mahmood.

However, the prime minister insisted over the weekend that he was not going anywhere – and had to warn rivals there would be “chaos” if he was ousted.