As Labour deputy prime minister Angela Rayner quits, here are the three things Keir Starmer needs to do to save his struggling government, says Herald columnist Rebecca McQuillan

What a dire week it’s been for Keir Starmer – again.

It started with ministers on the back foot over small boats and ended with Labour’s most charismatic minister resigning from government. We got there via the election of a new Green leader, Zack Polanski, an open admirer of Jeremy Corbyn. Polanski and Corbyn between them could leach crucial support away from Starmer and leave the way open for Nigel Farage to become Prime Minister.

In Downing Street, it must feel like being part of a ghoulish AI experiment, with a Netflix story generator determining each new twist. Unfortunately, feelgood endings are out of fashion.

Angela Rayner had a powerful talent for connecting with working class voters. Her loss is huge but Starmer’s problems run deeper. Talk all you like about Labour’s boastworthy majority, but the Government has seemed unable to get the country on board with its programme and counter the tactics of an opponent in Farage who glories in spreading misinformation and fear. Those many voters who desperately want this government to succeed, as the best bulwark we have against a host of encroaching threats, despair at the sputtering defence ministers have put up. A grip needs to be got.

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