Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is the top choice among Labour voters to replace Sir Keir Starmer. More Labour supporters want Mr Burnham to become Labour party leader if Sir Keir quits than back any member of the shadow cabinet.

And one in three people who voted Labour in the 2024 general election now say they have little or no confidence in Sir Keir. The findings in a new poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft will come as a blow to Cabinet Ministers such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting or Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner who may hope to become the next Labour leader once Sir Keir quits.

They show 20% of Labour voters would like to see Andy Burnham, a former health secretary, replace Sir Keir. In second place is Angela Rayner, who is the top choice of 10%.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is the third most popular choice, backed by 4%, while Wes Streeting is he choice of just 3%.

A quarter of Labour voters, 25%, say they have “not very much” confidence in the Prime Minister while 8% have no confidence at all, making 33% who have little or no confidence in total.

When all voters are considered, not just Labour voters, 58% have little or no confidence in the Prime Minister.

All the major parties are preparing for local elections in May 1 when around 1,600 council seats are up for re-election.

The Tory election slogan is “lower taxes, better services”, and they argue that Conservative-run authorities charge less council tax but are better at mending potholes and collecting rubbish.

They are also highlighting the horrific scenes in Birmingham, where uncollected bin bags are piled high in the streets thanks to a dispute between the Labour-run council and Labour-supporting trade union Unite. “Vote Labour, get trash,” say Conservatives.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage hopes to use these elections to demonstrate that he, rather than Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, is the opposition politician best placed to take on Sir Keir at the next general election.

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He made this clear at his local election campaign launch, where he described next month’s poll as the “first major hurdle” on Reform’s road to power.

Reform is boasting that it now has candidates in almost every seat, while in the 2024 local polls it only stood in around 12% of wards.

Attention may focus on Runcorn and Helsby, which is holding a by-election prompted by the resignation of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, after he was convicted of drunkenly assaulting a constituent.

Before the rise of Reform, Runcorn would have been a Labour-held seat where Conservatives came second – the type of constituency where Tories could pull off a stunning victory in a by-election.

But bookies currently have Reform odds-on to win at 4/11, with Labour second and Tories outsiders on 16/1.