The comments made by Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for the City of Durham, on 11 May 2026.
After listening to the Prime Minister carefully this morning, I’ve decided to offer my honest opinion about the situation we currently find ourselves in.
From as early as September 2024 I tried to issue well intended warnings to colleagues, Regional Office, and senior Labour figures including the party’s own General Secretary, highlighting that some of the key policy decisions being made by Labour were going to cause additional and unnecessary strain on my constituents in Durham and many of the people across the country who voted for us at the 2024 General Election. Those who voted for change, and for hope, following 14 years of crippling austerity.
As local elections in County Durham loomed in the first half of 2025 – less than a year after our spectacular GE victory – the mood amongst the electorate had changed dramatically. Again, I raised my concerns about the catastrophe that would follow.
After the election, and the loss of huge numbers of hardworking Labour Councillors in County Durham, I had urgent calls with senior Labour officials. I also met with Number 10 to outline exactly where Labour had got it wrong. I implored them, again, to change direction; to allow our communities to feel heard and to show them that this Labour Government was on their side.
No one listened.
What seemed like a constant desire to beat Reform at their own game continued. It was a misguided tactic – we don’t win back support by mirroring right wing populist policies or parroting their rhetoric. Especially not when it became clear that Labour was losing more votes to progressive parties to the left than to Reform. Voters in May 2026 responded to those who have clear vision and strong values. Things that Labour sadly do not currently offer.
Backbench MPs like me have felt consistently ignored, disappointingly branded the ‘usual suspects’ who aren’t ‘playing the team game’. As an MP, one of the most difficult decisions you can ever make is to vote against your own party; but when it comes down to it I will always do my best to put the City of Durham constituency first, and be guided by my Labour values.
Due to the misguided efforts of those at the top of Government, division in our communities has increased and the gap between the many and the few continues to grow, and the continued disfunction in Downing Street has led to even the most hardcore Labour voters turning their backs on the party that once was a beacon of hope to working class and marginalised communities.
My heart breaks at the current state of the party I’ve called my political home for my entire life and I’m embarrassed by the never-ending sound bites from Cabinet Ministers stating they don’t hear issues about the leadership on the doorstep. Perhaps they should knock on the same doors I have, but their lack of interest in listening to backbench colleagues has been made abundantly clear.
Apologies won’t cut it any longer. I know I might disappoint some Labour members by saying this, but we’ve reached an existential crisis. Labour lies on its death bed – with the only realistic cure being a change in direction and a change in leadership.
The best thing that could happen now is for the Prime Minister to set out a clear timetable for his departure, and for the process of a fair and democratic leadership election to be agreed.