Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigns from government

In a statement, Streeting said that he no longer had ‘confidence’ in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting has resigned from the ruling Labour government, deepening a crisis that threatens to topple Prime Minister Keir Starmer after less than two years in office.

Starmer is under growing pressure to step down following disastrous results in last week’s local elections.

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Streeting posted on X on Thursday that he no longer had “confidence” in Starmer’s leadership, and there was “no doubt” that the party’s unpopularity was a “major and common factor in our defeat across England, Scotland and Wales”.

“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election, and that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism,” the 43-year-old said.

“It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this.”

His announcement fell short of triggering a formal leadership contest against Starmer, but piles pressure on the British leader, who has so far weathered a drip-feed of demands for his resignation.

Streeting did not say whether he had gained the support of 81 MPs needed to trigger a contest.

So far, four junior ministers have resigned, including Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, and more than 80 MPs have urged Starmer to quit or set out a roadmap for his departure.

However, no one has formally challenged the prime minister for his position.

While Streeting is popular on the right of the Labour Party, he is disliked by the left-wing supporters who would prefer either Angela Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as leader.

Burnham would have to secure a seat in parliament before he could take part in any leadership challenge.

On Thursday, Rayner announced that she had been “cleared” by tax authorities of any wrongdoing after she was forced to resign from the cabinet after underpaying property tax. The tax authorities’ decision could pave the way for her to stand in any potential leadership contest.

Rayner stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign, but said voters were frustrated with the way the government was being run.

Other potential challengers include former Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Starmer’s spokesman reiterated on Thursday that the prime minister was not going anywhere.

He “is purely focused on governing. He is getting on with the job of doing just that,” the spokesman told reporters.

‘Squabbling amongst each other’

Voters last week expressed their dismay with Starmer’s 22 months in power, with huge local election gains at Labour’s expense for the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party and the left-wing Greens.

The Labour Party lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time, and failed to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh.

Starmer has vowed to fight any contest, pledging on Monday to do better and prove his doubters “wrong”.

He has been backed by several senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who urged colleagues on Thursday not to put the economy “at risk” by “plunging the country into chaos” with a leadership challenge.

The US and Israel’s war on Iran is already having a destabilising effect as rising fuel prices are heavily “impacting a range of industries here in Britain,” said Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from London.

“The worry among some people in the Labour Party is that if politicians and the government are seen as squabbling amongst each other, and not really solving these really fundamental problems that the country is facing”, then this could lead to calls for a general election, said Veselinovic.

This would be disastrous for Labour due to their low polling numbers and poor results from the recent local elections, she added.