THREE more Scottish Labour MPs have joined the chorus of demands for Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation.

In what appeared to be a co-ordinated action, the trio, hitherto regarded as leadership loyalists, issued statements arguing they had lost faith in the Prime Minister after last week’s drubbing at the Holyrood elections.

The party, which has lost seats at every Holyrood election since 1999, saw its combined constituency and list vote tally fall by 24 per cent as it plunged to a new low of 17 seats, tying with Reform for second.

First to break ranks was one-time Gordon Brown protege Melanie Ward, resigning from her parliamentary private secretary (PPS) role.

The Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP took to social media to say: “Keir Starmer did important work to change the Labour Party, and governing in a time like this will never be easy.

“But the message from last week’s elections was clear; the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the public to lead this change.”

Another PPS resignation was “deeply sad,” Glasgow South MP Gordon McKee, who posted: “The message in Glasgow and across the country in last week’s elections was clear; the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the public.”

Joining her constituency neighbour, Glasgow East’s Maureen Burke spoke of her experience on the campaign trail in recent months.

“Despite two decades of SNP failure, people were reluctant to give Labour a hearing and told me that they could not, in good faith, vote Labour while Keir Starmer is prime minister,” she said.

“Our party owes Keir a debt of gratitude for his leadership, but we are bigger than one person.

“With a heavy heart, I am calling on the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure.”

While those three joined the calls already made months earlier, not only by socialist MPs like Alloa and Grangemouth’s Brian Leishman, but also by the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, the ailing Prime Minister still has the backing of Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Alison Taylor.

Insisting he had “a five-year mandate to change, protect, defend, enrich our United Kingdom,” she argued: “It’s wrong not to back the leader. Just wrong. This is not the way to go about such matters.

“Keir needs support by his team. Not have the knives turned on him.”