Britain12 May, 20262 min read
Keir Starmer Tells Cabinet He’s Going Nowhere As Ministers Resign After Local Election Losses
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Several ministers resign from Starmer's government following Labour's local election defeats. Starmer insists he will continue governing despite mounting calls to resign.
Ministers quit, Starmer stays
Keir Starmer told his cabinet he was going nowhere and said, "The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered," as multiple ministers resigned after Labour’s losses in local and regional elections last week. The first resignation came from Miatta Fahnbulleh, who urged Starmer "to do the right thing for the country" and called for "an orderly transition" in her resignation letter.
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips followed, writing that she thought Starmer was "a good man fundamentally" but that "that is not enough," and Alex Davies-Jones and Zubir Ahmed also resigned shortly after. The BBC said Phillips resigned from Starmer’s cabinet as safeguarding minister and joined Miatta Fahnbulleh, Alex Davies-Jones and Zubir Ahmed as ministers who had resigned from the government.
Resignation letters and pressure
In her resignation letter, Jess Phillips said, "I know you care deeply, but deeds, not words are what matter," and she argued that the desire not to have an argument meant opportunities for progress were "stalled and delayed." Phillips also accused Starmer of failing to move fast enough on blocking child abuse images, writing, "It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space."
The BBC’s full text of the letters framed Fahnbulleh’s departure around a claim that, "we have not acted with the vision, pace and ambition that our mandate for change demands of us." The Guardian reported that Wes Streeting would meet Keir Starmer on Wednesday morning, with Downing Street insiders suggesting Streeting was climbing down from intense speculation about a leadership bid.
Leadership challenge threshold
Under Labour party rules described by WRAL, a leadership contest requires a fifth of lawmakers in the House of Commons, or 81 members, to publicly back a single candidate for a leadership election to take place. WRAL said that while more than 100 MPs signed a letter saying it was "no time for a leadership contest," about 90 others said Starmer should stand down or at least set out a timetable for his departure.
The Guardian reported that more than 100 Labour MPs signed a letter saying this is "no time for a leadership contest," and that LabourList tally showed 88 Labour MPs had said the PM should go. The BBC noted that Phillips’s resignation joined Miatta Fahnbulleh, Alex Davies-Jones and Zubir Ahmed as ministers who had resigned from the government, while Starmer insisted the leadership challenge process had not been triggered.