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A group of Labour MPs say they have enough nominations to launch a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer, in the latest blow to the embattled Prime Minister. The party’s rules require 20% of its MPs backing a challenger to initiate an election for the party leadership.

Labour’s current level of representation in the Commons means 81 would need to get behind a candidate to take on Sir Keir, BBC News reports. Senior MPs in party’s soft-left Tribune Group claim they’ve reached the threshold do this, with one saying patience among MPs is “wearing thin” following a series of concerning polls, as per The Times. “It’s all about the polls,” one group member told the newspaper. “We can’t be below 20 per cent at the polls for much longer. We can’t carry on like this past May if the [local] elections are as bad as the polls show.”

A source close to the Tribune Group told the outlet it has “the numbers to put a candidate into a leadership contest”, but another member warned that the public wouldn’t be favourable towards a “destructive” leadership challenge.

However, senior MPs among them say they’ve yet to unite behind a single candidate.

It comes as recent reports have suggested a growing number of Sir Keir’s MPs aren’t happy with his performance in the top job, and last month YouGov’s political favourability tracker showed him with a -51 rating, in a damning indictment of public opinion.

Since winning power in a landslide victory last year Sir Keir’s ratings have sunk, and Labour have consistently been shown to be behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in polling.

Next week, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out her Autumn Budget, which is expected to be unpopular despite the government’s decision to scrap a controversial income tax hike, as reported by Sky News.

Meanwhile, after being forced to row back welfare reforms following a rebellion, the Labour government faces the possibility of further internal pushback over Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s overhaul of the UK’s asylum system.

The May elections are expected to be a crucial moment in Starmer’s premiership, with a wipeout expected to pile further pressure on the Government.

Last week, rumours swirled of ministers planning to oust the PM. In a briefing from Number 10 on Tuesday night, allies of Sir Keir warned that any attempt to remove him from power would be disastrous, a move which prompted a flurry of speculation about the PM’s position being under threat.

Allies of his reportedly accused the Health Secretary Wes Streeting of seeking to challenge his leadership, something Mr Streeting has firmly denied, claiming briefings were made against him by allies of Sir Keir. The PM has since insisted he didn’t authorise any of these attacks against the Cabinet minister and reportedly apologised to him.

Other senior Labour figures seen as potential successors Sir Keir include Energy Secretary and former party leader Ed Miliband, and Ms Mahmood. Backbenchers have also been mentioned as possible replacements, including former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, as per BBC News.

However, Sir Keir has made clear he intends to lead Labour into the next general election, and has acknowledged to his Cabinet that the British public are “rightly impatient for change” as he called on ministers to focus on delivering for Britain.

His spokesperson said yesterday that the PM told them “distractions meant our focus shifted from where it mattered most, working every day in the service of the British people”.

“The prime minister said next week’s budget would prioritise rebuilding the economy, showing what the Government stands for,” they added. “[He] said people were rightly impatient for change, and we had to deliver that rather than talk about ourselves. That meant working as one team, delivering opportunity and security and delivering on our mandate.”

The Labour Party has been approached for comment.