Health Minister Wes Streeting is the first senior minister to quit after days of calls by Labour lawmakers for Starmer to step down
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenReutersPublished: 8:49pm, 14 May 2026Labour’s Wes Streeting announced his resignation as health minister on Thursday, calling for a leadership contest to oust British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has shown no sign he is ready to step down.
Disastrous results for the governing Labour Party in last week’s local elections have plunged Britain into its latest crisis, just under two years after Starmer won a large majority on a vow to bring stability and end a decade of political chaos.
After days of calls by a growing number of Labour lawmakers for Starmer to either resign or set out a timetable for his departure, Streeting was the first senior minister to break cover, saying he was standing down because “it is now clear you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”.
“It is now clear … that Labour MPs (members of parliament) and Labour (trade) unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this.”
His announcement fell short of triggering a formal leadership contest against Starmer but piles the pressure on the British leader who has so far weathered a drip-feed of demands for him to step down.
