Starmer faces calls to step down as junior ministers resign

Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to steady his grip on power during the Labour Party’s internal turmoil, telling his Cabinet on Tuesday that he intends to stay and that no formal trigger for removing a leader had been activated. The remarks came a day before the state opening of Parliament, when the government will present its legislative program for the coming year, with King Charles III scheduled to deliver it.

Pressure on Starmer has mounted in recent days after Labour suffered historic losses in local elections last week, losses that the AP reported could be a warning sign if similar results occur in a national election due by 2029. Although the AP said no Cabinet member had quit or publicly demanded Starmer step aside for a change in leader, it also reported growing speculation that health secretary Wes Streeting could tell Starmer his position is no longer secure when they meet on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, several junior ministers resigned and urged Starmer to follow their lead. Miatta Fahnbulleh, the minister of housing, communities and local government, resigned first and urged Starmer “to do the right thing for the country.” Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister and a prominent Labour figure, followed with her own resignation, describing Starmer as a “good man fundamentally” but saying she was unable to make bold changes and did not think Labour was acting quickly enough.

Phillips wrote that “I know you care deeply, but deeds, not words are what matter,” adding, “I’m not sure we are grasping this rare opportunity with the gusto that’s needed and I cannot keep waiting around for a crisis to push for faster progress,” according to the AP’s reporting. The resignations intensified the sense that Starmer’s political position is under threat even as the leadership process remains formally constrained.

At the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, Starmer acknowledged responsibility for Labour’s election losses but said he would fight on, with the AP reporting that he told ministers the country expected them to keep governing. Starmer said “The country expects us to get on with governing” and warned that “The past 48 hours have been destabilizing for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families.”

In the AP’s account, markets reacted to the leadership turmoil as well: it reported that the interest rate charged on British government bonds rose by more than those of comparable nations, reflecting investors’ view that holding UK government debt is increasingly risky. Starmer told his Cabinet that there is a process to oust a leader and that it has not been triggered, and the AP said more than 100 lawmakers had signed a letter urging it was “no time for a leadership contest,” while roughly 90 others said Starmer should stand down or at least set out a timetable.

The AP said that, even with that split, Labour rules would not automatically allow a leadership contest to proceed because no challenger had mounted an explicit challenge. Under those rules, a leadership election would require a fifth of lawmakers in the House of Commons—81 members—publicly backing a single candidate.

As some Cabinet members left Downing Street, senior figures voiced support for Starmer. Works and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said nobody publicly challenged Starmer at the meeting, while Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the prime minister was showing “really steadfast leadership,” according to the AP report. Later, Starmer’s deputy David Lammy warned Labour lawmakers that the only beneficiary of the party’s “navel-gazing” would be the populist right and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, urging colleagues to “take a breath.”

The AP also reported that Streeting, widely expected to be a possible challenger, faced shouted questions from reporters outside a meeting, including whether he wanted the job and whether he was “measuring the curtains.” The AP said Streeting is expected to meet Starmer early on Wednesday before King Charles III outlines the government’s program to discuss the future.

Beyond Streeting, the AP said Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, and Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, were among the other names most frequently touted as successors. It reported that Rayner has long set herself apart politically and that Burnham is widely seen as a strong candidate but is not currently eligible because he is not in Parliament, meaning he would have to secure a seat first—potentially by relying on a close ally’s decision in the northwest to vacate and stand aside for him.

The leadership pressure is now set against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented U.K. political landscape, with Labour losing votes to Reform UK, the Green Party and nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, the AP reported.