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UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting Quits After Losing Confidence in Starmer

The move sharpens a Labour leadership crisis triggered by heavy local-election losses.

Overview

  • Streeting, who resigned Thursday, said staying in the cabinet would be dishonorable after he lost confidence in Keir Starmer.
  • Starmer has told ministers he will not step down and says any challenge must follow Labour’s formal process, which has not begun.
  • Labour’s poor results last week—about 1,400 to 1,500 council seats lost—spurred more than 80 MPs to demand a timetable for Starmer’s exit, alongside multiple ministerial resignations.
  • Streeting has not launched a leadership bid, and party rules require at least 81 Labour MPs to nominate any challenger before a contest can start.
  • Business and government figures warn that ongoing turmoil is lifting borrowing costs and could derail the policy program set out in the King’s Speech.