British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce his resignation on Monday as pressure mounts within the United Kingdom’s ruling Labour Party.
The expected announcement follows days of intense speculation after reports emerged on Friday that senior cabinet ministers had privately urged him to step down. However, Starmer will not leave office immediately. He is expected to remain as caretaker prime minister while Labour elects a new leader.
The prime minister has faced growing criticism from within his party over Labour’s declining popularity and a series of controversial policy decisions. Labour MPs increasingly view Starmer as an electoral liability despite leading the party to a landslide victory in the 2024 general election.
His government faced backlash over tougher immigration policies, proposed cuts to disability benefits and restrictions on winter fuel payments for some pensioners. Although ministers later softened or reversed some of those policies, the measures damaged Starmer’s standing among traditional Labour supporters.
Pressure intensified after Labour’s disappointing performance in the May local elections and the Makerfield’s June by-election, where Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham secured a return to Parliament. Burnham, who lost the 2015 Labour leadership contest to Jeremy Corbyn, won the Makerfield seat on 19 June after defeating Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon. He is widely seen as the frontrunner to replace Starmer if a leadership contest begins.
Burnham’s victory intensified calls for Starmer to call it quits. Several senior ministers, including Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, have reportedly urged Starmer to consider his position.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who resigned from the cabinet in May and publicly called on Starmer to step down, is also expected to consider a leadership bid. However, he had previously backed Burnham. In his resignation letter, Streeting said it would have been “dishonourable” to remain in government and accused Starmer of adopting a “heavy-handed approach to dissenting voices”.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC that the prime minister would do “what is in the best interests of the country”.
Starmer’s authority has also come under scrutiny over recent appointments, including picking former Labour minister Lord Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the United States. Mandelson’s past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has attracted criticism from political opponents. Mandelson has denied any wrongdoing and has never been accused of any criminal offence. The former minister has also faced scrutiny over his past advisory work for Russian aluminium company Rusal after leaving government.
If Starmer confirms his resignation timetable on Monday, Labour MPs will begin the process of selecting a new leader who would automatically become prime minister. Previous Labour leadership contests have taken several weeks or months to complete, depending on the timetable set by the party. However, it is expected that the new PM could take up to the reigns of power by end of July.
