Wes Streeting has announced that he has resigned as Britain’s health minister, paving the way for a potential leadership challenge against embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
In his resignation letter to the prime minister, which Streeting posted on X on Thursday, he said he had “lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership, and “it is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election.”
In his resignation letter, Streeting said he has lost confidence in Keir Starmer’s leadership.
“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift”, he said.
He added: “It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election.”
Streeting noted that what comes next should be “a battle of ideas, it needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates”.
It came after reports that Streeting was preparing a leadership challenge against Starmer, who has been under pressure from dozens of lawmakers calling for Starmer’s resignation.
Earlier this week, four junior ministers resigned from the Cabinet.
The pressure follows a series of damaging setbacks for Labour in last week’s elections.
In Wales, the party suffered a historic defeat in the Senedd elections, while in Scotland, the Scottish National Party retained power for a fifth consecutive term in the Scottish Parliament.
The elections, held across Scotland, Wales, and 136 English local authorities, were the largest electoral test since Labour’s landslide victory in the 2024 general election.
Since then, Starmer has expressed that he will “get on with governing” despite growing pressure over Labour’s recent election defeat and calls for him to resign.
However, more than 80 lawmakers, as well as some of his Cabinet members, have called for him to resign immediately or set a timetable for his leave.
Starmer told cabinet ministers on Tuesday he would “get on with governing” despite growing pressure over Labour’s recent election defeat and calls for him to resign as the first serving government minister quit, and rebellion inside the parliamentary party intensified.
Streeting highlighted the unprecedented scale of Labour’s recent defeats, warning that Nigel Farage and Reform UK now represent “a dangerous English nationalism” and an “existential threat” to the United Kingdom.
