Inside the hard-left in Hull's politics - and the influence they can have at this week's local election Why are they still here and how much influence do they really have? Updated For Labour leader Keir Starmer it was a question he probably thought he had got past. ‘So about Corbynism ... and its continuing influence in Hull…?” More than a year since his election as party leader, Starmer shifted a little in his seat in a gym in Hull and appeared to trawl back for a response he had last used months ago. “The most important thing about my leadership is that it’s new leadership that we’re under,” he said, before going into his lines for the day about the NHS, crime and anti-social behaviour.