Uk’s Health minister resigns amid speculation of a potential challenge to Starmer.
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Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting leaves Number 10 Downing Street after attending a cabinet meeting in central London on May 12, 2026. Calls mounted late on May 11 for Britain’s embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit, despite his pledges to prove his doubters wrong after his ruling Labour party was crushed in local and regional elections. (Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP)
Britain’s health minister, Wes Streeting, announced on Thursday that he has stepped down, clearing the path for a potential leadership bid against the embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
In his resignation letter to Starmer, which Streeting shared on X, he wrote: “It’s now clear you won’t be leading the Labour Party into the next general election.”
He said he had “lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership and that the discussion about the ruling party’s future “needs to be broad, with the best possible field of candidates.”
Streeting, 43, did not say whether he had the required support of 81 Labour MPs — 20 per cent of the party in parliament — to trigger a contest.
Starmer, who steered the Labour Party to victory in the 2024 elections after 14 years of Conservative dominance, is now facing challenges to his leadership after disappointing results in last week’s local and regional polls.
Four junior ministers have stepped down, and over 80 Labour MPs have urged him to resign, but he’s determined to hang on as more than 100 lawmakers from the ruling party have voiced their support for him to stay.
On Thursday, his former deputy Angela Rayner announced that UK tax authorities had “cleared” her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair, opening the way for her to compete in a potential leadership race.
