Labour MP Catherine West has said if a cabinet minister does not challenge Sir Keir Starmer as party leader by Monday, she will attempt to trigger a leadership contest herself.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, she said her preferred option would be for the cabinet to "reorganise themselves" and put forward their "best communicator" to replace Sir Keir, avoiding a leadership election.

But speaking after devastating election results for Labour, West said she was putting the cabinet "on notice" and if she did not hear from a leadership hopeful by Monday she would ask Labour MPs to back her to trigger a contest.

For this to happen, 20% of Labour MPs – 81 people – would have to back her.

West, a former junior Foreign Office minister, said she currently had 10 MPs prepared to back her in a leadership bid but she was "confident" enough people would come forward to trigger a contest.

"My preferred option is for the cabinet to do a reshuffle within itself, where there's plenty of talent, and for Keir to be given a different role, which he might enjoy, perhaps an international role," the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet told Radio 4's PM programme.

"Then for others to come to the fore who can communicate the message, who are very able, so we can have minimum fuss."

However, Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said he would "caution colleagues" against her proposal.

"We've seen over the past 10 years now, what happens when a party in government just starts chopping and changing leaders," he told the programme.

"It just generates instability and it militates against a focus on delivery."

While West is not trying to become Labour leader herself, she could tempt others to launch a leadership bid.

But if her plan falls apart and prompts Labour MPs to row in behind Sir Keir, his position could be strengthened.

Sir Keir has insisted he will not "walk away and plunge the country into chaos", after Labour suffered heavy losses in elections for English councils, as well as the Welsh and Scottish parliaments.

Cabinet ministers also rallied round the PM on Friday evening, voicing their support on social media.

However, around 30 Labour MPs have publicly called for a change of leader or a timetable for Sir Keir to go, since the results started coming in on Friday.

Labour has lost more than 1,460 seats in English council elections, with Reform UK making huge gains in former Labour heartlands in northern England and the Midlands.

Meanwhile, the Greens won control of Waltham Forest, Lewisham and Hackney in London, where Labour had previously been dominant, as well as winning the party's first-ever elected mayors in Hackney and Lewisham.

In Wales, Labour suffered a historic defeat in the Senedd, finishing third behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.

There were also heavy losses for the party in the Scottish Parliament election, where the SNP won a fifth successive term and Labour finished a distant second tied with Reform. (BBC)

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