Wes Streeting Launches Bid to Oust Starmer as Labour Needs 20% MP Support
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · May 16
Wes Streeting Launches Bid to Oust Starmer as Labour Needs 20% MP Support
11 articles · Updated · CBS New York · May 16
Wes Streeting said Saturday he will stand in any Labour leadership contest, escalating pressure on Keir Starmer after heavy local election losses.
In a resignation letter, the former health secretary said Starmer could not lead Labour into the next general election and that the party faced a "vacuum" where it needed vision.
Labour rules require a challenger to win backing from at least 20% of the party's MPs to trigger a formal leadership election, which has not yet begun.
Andy Burnham's move two days earlier to seek a return to Parliament has added to expectations of a contest, with several figures seen as potential challengers.
The turmoil follows Reform UK gains across England in local elections, testing Starmer less than 2 years after Labour's landslide national victory.
With nationalist parties surging, can any leader now hold the United Kingdom together?
As Labour and Conservatives collapse, is Britain's two-party system officially dead?