Wes Streeting has confirmed he would enter any potential Labour leadership contest, just days after resigning as health secretary and telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer he had lost confidence in him. Speaking at a conference on Saturday, Streeting declared, "We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I will be standing."
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham told the BBC he intends to stand in the Makerfield by-election to "save" the Labour Party. Burnham, widely expected to launch a leadership challenge should he win the seat, said the vote must be a moment to "reclaim the Labour party, to save it from where it's been."
The prime minister is resisting calls to resign following Labour's heavy losses in local elections on 7 May, which saw the party lose nearly 1,500 councillors in England and suffer major setbacks in Wales and Scotland. Nearly 90 Labour MPs have publicly called on Starmer to step down or set a timetable, though more than 150 have expressed support for him.
Streeting resigned on Thursday but stopped short of launching a formal challenge. Asked if he had the backing of the 81 MPs needed to trigger a contest, he said he has support but emphasized the party could have "rushed" into a contest. Doing so without giving Burnham a chance to stand would lack "legitimacy" and "extend instability," he argued.
Streeting also declared Brexit a "catastrophic mistake," saying the UK is "less wealthy, less powerful, and less in control than at any point before the Industrial Revolution." He called for a "new special relationship with the EU" and said Britain's future lies in eventually rejoining the bloc.
Burnham, cleared by Labour's National Executive Committee to stand in Makerfield, told the BBC: "We can't just carry on as we are. ... Britain has been on the wrong path for 40 years—de-industrialisation, deregulation of buses, privatisation of life's essentials." He dismissed suggestions the by-election is a vanity project, calling it "about fixing politics."
The by-election is expected on 18 June. Starmer has told his cabinet he will "get on with governing" and warned that a leadership contest could cause "chaos."