Leaked emails implore party members to stand for office, telling them that ‘no experience is necessary’
Daily Telegraph 04/04/26
Sir Keir Starmer is desperately recruiting council candidates amid fears of a Labour bloodbath at the local elections next month.
Leaked emails obtained by The Telegraph show the Labour Party is scrambling to find candidates to stand in the contests, with one local government committee begging its members to sign up.
The leak is the latest in a series of embarrassing blows to the Prime Minister, whose premiership may once again be thrown into question if Labour is, as predicted, decimated at the ballot box in May.
The Labour local government committee in Sutton, south-west London, has sent out at least three emails in the past seven days imploring members to stand in the elections.
On Thursday, an email sent to Labour members stated: “The deadline for candidate nominations is next week and we still have a number of places left for members to stand for us in those wards where the aim is mainly to fly the flag for Labour and to give Labour members and Labour voters the chance to vote Labour on the ballot paper.”
The message, in bold, underlined, red text, continues: “To complete that task we need your help NOW as members by some more of you volunteering to stand for us. Don’t assume others are applying, so do please contact us now.”
The email emphasises that there is “no complicated interview process” and decisions are “made locally”.
Several hours later, a second email was circulated stating: “Please reply to this email if you are willing to be a paper candidate in any of these seats.”
Labour has been forecast to lose as many as 2,000 councillors in the local elections, according to projections by Prof Stephen Fisher, a political sociologist at the University of Oxford.
The party has significant concerns about losing some of its safest seats in London, where Labour is set to face serious challenges from the Greens, who are projected to do well in urban centres and areas with a high student population.
Meanwhile, an insider in Tower Hamlets told The Telegraph that the Labour Party had been struggling to find enough female candidates to stand in the ward to meet its policy of positive discrimination.
The party can use all-women shortlists to increase female representation in local government, often targeting “winnable” seats, with the aim of eventually achieving a 50-50 gender balance in elected positions.
But this has inevitably made recruiting harder.
The party has been struggling to recruit since the local elections were first announced.
A leaked email from the Jarrow and Gateshead Labour Party, sent in February, urged members to “seriously consider giving assistance to the Borough of South Tyneside in putting your name forward”.
According to LBC radio station it also documented a number of vacancies across the area and added that “no experience is required” to run as a candidate.
Nominations for the spring local elections close on April 8.
After Labour came third behind the Greens and Reform at the Gorton and Denton by-election, Sir Keir’s critics warned that he would face a challenge after the May elections unless he changed course.
Potential leadership candidates include Angela Rayner, the former deputy leader, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary.
The Labour Party has been contacted for comment.
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