Wes Streeting Delivers 20-Minute Resignation Speech as Labour Rift Deepens After Election Losses
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 20
Wes Streeting Delivers 20-Minute Resignation Speech as Labour Rift Deepens After Election Losses
13 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 20
Wes Streeting used a 20-minute Commons resignation speech to say he was "full of rebellious hope," while renewing his attack on Keir Starmer's leadership after quitting the cabinet last week.
The 43-year-old former health secretary said Labour's dire election results reflected a leadership "vacuum," arguing the party needed a clearer vision as it fights Reform UK and Nigel Farage.
Streeting, flanked by fellow resignations Jess Phillips and Rosie Wrighting, also set out a broader agenda on young people's worsening prospects, housing, debt, AI-driven job losses and closer ties with Europe.
The speech lands amid a wider Labour revolt: four junior ministers and six aides quit on Monday, nearly 90 MPs have urged Starmer to go or set a timetable, while more than 150 have backed him or opposed a contest.
That standoff now feeds directly into the succession battle, with both Streeting and Andy Burnham signalling they would run if a Labour leadership contest is triggered.
As Labour's civil war rages, can Andy Burnham win a by-election and save the party from Nigel Farage?
As Reform UK surges in polls, is Britain's traditional two-party political system finally on the verge of collapse?
With a youth unemployment crisis looming, are politicians failing to address the UK's 'lost generation'?