Sir Keir Starmer is reportedly preparing a significant cabinet shake-up in an attempt to steady his troubled leadership, with plans understood to include the return of Angela Rayner and former transport secretary Louise Haigh alongside the removal of Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
The proposed changes, reported by the Independent citing insider sources, represent a deliberate shift to the left — a direction that carries direct implications for economic policy. “A shift to the left means a change in economic policy, which means a new chancellor,” one source explained.
Rayner’s potential return to government remains contingent on the outcome of an HMRC investigation into unpaid stamp duty on a Brighton property, the issue that triggered her original departure. Reports this week suggest the inquiry could be concluded before May’s local elections, though no official timeline has been confirmed. Haigh, who resigned after a conviction relating to falsely reporting her mobile phone stolen became public, is also said to be under consideration for a return.
Lucy Powell, removed from cabinet last September over her position on welfare reforms, is understood to be seeking a significant ministerial post following her success in the deputy leadership contest held to replace Rayner.
Should Reeves be removed, two candidates have emerged as leading contenders for the chancellorship. Torsten Bell, a Treasury minister and former policy expert at the Resolution Foundation, is seen as a frontrunner, with Darren Jones — Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and previously Reeves’ deputy — also in the running.
The reshuffle is being framed internally as an attempt to demonstrate that Starmer can reassert authority over a party increasingly fractured by backbench rebellions and internal disagreements. The electoral backdrop makes the pressure all the more acute. Analysis from polling firm Bombe projects Labour could lose approximately 1,700 council seats in the 7 May elections, with Reform expected to gain around 1,500 and the Greens roughly 600. Potential losses in Wales, Scotland, London and traditional northern heartlands have deepened the sense of alarm, compounded by the recent by-election defeat to the Greens in Gorton and Denton.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, whose union recently cut its Labour funding by 40 per cent, said publicly what many within the party were saying privately. “I think after the May elections there will be a move to change leader because I think Labour are going to pretty much be decimated in those elections,” she told Sky News.
Whether Starmer has the political capital to carry out such sweeping changes remains uncertain. Downing Street is said to be struggling to attract new staff, and one source told the Independent bluntly: “Nobody thinks he will survive much beyond May.” Even if the reshuffle proceeds as planned, insiders suggest it may prove too little to secure his position.
