UNIONS welcomed Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to quit today but warned that the government needed a radical shift in policies as well as leadership.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called Sir Keir’s move the “right and honourable,” adding: “There is no time to waste, everyday people are literally on their knees.

“Labour has one last shot to learn from the errors of the last two years. A failure to act, will result in a doomsday scenario for Labour.

“In the short term we need policies that make workers’ lives easier.”

National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede insisted the “stakes could not be higher” and insisted the next prime minister must fix the funding crisis in schools.

He said: “The country had seen enough of Keir Starmer’s government to know that it is not going to deliver the meaningful change that was promised by Labour two years ago.

“If we have more of the same from our next prime minister, we risk sleepwalking into the disaster that would be a Reform UK government.

“Whoever does replace Keir Starmer needs to set Britain on a different economic path and deliver fundamental change.”

Transport union RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “Andy Burnham said this Labour government has one ‘last chance to change’ and to ‘end trickle-down economics.’

“We agree and that means intervening in the economy to expand public ownership, to raise wages, improve living standards and for the state to intervene to help working-class people, not hang them out to dry at the mercy of market forces.

“Only by working with trade unions, radically improving the lives of ordinary people and securing the economy to serve them, can the Labour government have any hope of winning the next general election.”

Train drivers’ union Aslef general secretary Dave Calfe said: “Now we need a prime minister who will deliver Labour’s new deal for working people in full and who understands what the Labour Party needs to stand for in the 21st century.”

And Steve Wright, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said that “whoever replaces Keir Starmer needs to be clear that the status quo has to change.

“Starmer failed to break with the perceived wisdom of attacking public services, failing to tackle wealth inequality while letting privatised public utilities rip off the people of this country.”