UK health minister Wes Streeting resigns in fresh blow to Keir Starmer

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned at the worst possible moment for Keir Starmer, stripping away more authority from a prime minister who only days earlier vowed to "get on with governing" as rebellion spread through Labour ranks.

In Short

• Streeting said staying in government would be dishonourable and unprincipled now
• He wrote that Starmer would not lead Labour into the election
• The letter said MPs and unions wanted a broad contest

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered the most serious blow to his leadership yet on Thursday after Health Secretary Wes Streeting quit the government, declaring he had "lost confidence" in Starmer. He made clear that the Labour Party had already begun looking beyond him.

Starmer's authority as PM has been shaken by catastrophic local election losses, growing anger inside the Labour Party and mounting calls for him to step aside before the next general election.

In resignation letter posted on X, Streeting said remaining in government would now be "dishonourable and unprincipled".

"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," Streeting wrote.

"It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates."

Streeting resigned at the worst possible moment for Starmer, stripping away more authority from a prime minister who only days earlier vowed to "get on with governing" as rebellion spread through Labour ranks.

But the pressure has only intensified.

Last week's election results triggered panic across Labour ranks after the party lost more than 1,100 council seats in England, surrendered power in Wales after nearly three decades and fell badly behind in Scotland, where Reform UK made major gains, according to BBC. The poll results exposed a growing disconnect between Labour's leadership and parts of its traditional support base.

Streeting's letter acknowledged that erosion of trust.

He described the election results as "unprecedented" and warned that progressive voters across Britain were "increasingly losing faith" in Labour's ability to offer hope or direction.

The outgoing health secretary also singled out policies and choices he said had damaged the government's standing, including cuts to winter fuel support and Starmer's controversial "island of strangers" speech delivered last year.

"You also need to listen to your colleagues, including backbenchers, and the heavy-handed approach to dissenting voices diminishes our politics," Streeting wrote.

- Ends