UK's Labour party meets with Starmer facing political peril

LIVERPOOL

Britain's ruling Labour party gathers for its annual meeting on Sunday, with under-fire Prime Minister Keir Starmer battling to convince nervous lawmakers that he is the right leader to fend off soaring support for the hard right.

It was only in July last year that the ex-lawyer led Labour back to power after 14 years in opposition, but scandals, policy missteps and plummeting poll ratings are already raising doubts about his future.

The four-day gathering in Liverpool comes amid chatter about a possible leadership challenge and follows two recent high-profile departures from government following embarrassing revelations.

The conference takes place with Labour lagging well behind the upstart anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party, led by anti-EU firebrand Nigel Farage, in national surveys.

"It's not make or break for Starmer since he still has a large majority in parliament and it's difficult for Labour MPs to remove their leader," said Patrick Diamond, politics professor at Queen Mary University of London.

"But the conference is a pivotal moment because it's an opportunity for him to lay out a clear vision of where he is taking the country," he told AFP.

Despite enjoying some success on the international stage for his handling of U.S. President Donald Trump and helping co-ordinate European support for Ukraine, Starmer has endured a largely miserable first 14 months domestically as prime minister.

Britain's economy remains anaemic, meaning a tax-raising budget is looming, while Starmer U-turned on welfare reforms and the scrapping of energy benefits for millions of pensioners following anger among Labour's left-wing base.

Meanwhile, small boat crossings to England of undocumented migrants are at record levels, fuelling support for anti-immigrant Reform.