The Latest: Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces Labour Party leadership challenge

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s future is uncertain as key Labour Party members prepare to challenge his leadership.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting quit embattled Starmer’s Cabinet Thursday in what is expected to be a precursor to challenging his leadership. Streeting is the first Cabinet member to resign.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said she resolved a tax issue that forced her resignation last year, allowing her to also consider a challenge. Rayner told the Guardian that Starmer should “reflect on” his position. Starmer is in a precarious position after Labour’s heavy losses in recent elections. More than 80 lawmakers have urged him to set a timetable for his departure. Starmer says he has no intention to stand down.

The embattled prime minister is in a precarious position after the huge losses Labour suffered in local and regional elections last week. More than 80 lawmakers in the House of Commons have since urged him to set a timetable for his departure, though no one has yet challenged Starmer directly.

Starmer says he has no intention to stand down, and has his own supporters within the party. More than 100 lawmakers have signed a letter saying it’s “no time” for a leadership contest.

Streeting or Rayner would each need signatures from at least 81 Labour lawmakers to launch a challenge.

Here's the latest:

Health Secretary Wes Streeting quit embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet Thursday in what is expected to be a precursor to challenging his leadership.

Streeting is the first Cabinet member to resign as Starmer faces pressure to step down after the Labour Party’s disastrous results last week in local and regional elections.

Streeting, whose political ambitions have long been known, is considered one of a handful of people who could try to unseat Starmer.

For the past decade or so, since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, leadership battles have become a regular feature of British politics.

If Keir Starmer were to be ousted in any leadership battle to come, the U.K. would embark on its 7th prime minister since the Brexit vote first prompted David Cameron to stand down.

The Conservative Party then got into the habit of changing leaders. From Theresa May to Boris Johnson to Liz Truss and finally Rishi Sunak.

When Sunak lost the 2024 general election to the Labour Party, it was widely assumed that stability would return to the top of government, with Starmer at least set fair for the length of his five-year mandate.

But changing leaders is easier said than done. No Labour prime minister has ever been dislodged, though Tony Blair announced his plan to resign in 2007 after a series of low-level resignations.

With leadership speculation swirling, stronger-than-anticipated U.K. economic growth figures have been largely ignored.

On coming to power in July 2024, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said raising the country’s anemic growth rates over the previous 15 years or so was his number one priority.

Official figures on Thursday showed that growth was heading in the right direction in the first three months of 2026, even after accounting for the negative impact emanating from the start of the Iran war.

The Office for National Statistics said growth rose by 0.6% in the first quarter from the previous three-month period, with most sectors advancing. More growth means more tax revenues to fund Labour’s priorities and potentially lower borrowing.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, who has been widely blamed for many of the policy missteps that have hurt Labour’s popularity, warned colleagues not to put the economy “at risk” by “plunging the country into chaos.”

A former Royal Marine who served with distinction in Afghanistan is being touted as a potential candidate to replace Starmer in the event of a leadership battle.

Al Carns, who is the armed forces minister in Starmer’s Labour government, has seen his stock rise within the party ever since he was first elected to Parliament in Labour’s 2024 landslide election victory.

Carns, 46, has a captivating personal story that could attract support among the different factions within Labour. In addition to his distinguished service in Afghanistan, which saw him awarded the Military Cross in 2011, Carns was born in a working-class family in the Scottish oil town of Aberdeen to a single mum.

“We do not need more slogans, strategies, press releases or commissions,” Carns said in an article for The New Statesman magazine published on Thursday, “We need action.”

His weakness is likely to be his lack of experience. Replacing a leader who has been criticized for his lack of political nous with a relative newcomer, however compelling their backstory, could be risky.

Efforts to unseat Starmer are likely to break out into open rebellion Thursday, with one potential rival expected to announce his bid for the job and another clearing the way for her to enter any future leadership contest.

Allies of Health Secretary Wes Streeting say he will make an announcement later in the day after garnering enough support from lawmakers of the governing Labour Party to challenge Starmer for leadership of the party and the government.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said Thursday that she had reached an agreement with tax authorities to clear up questions about her taxes that forced her to leave the Cabinet last September. Rayner told the Guardian newspaper that Starmer should “reflect on” his position, adding that she was ready to “play my part” in any leadership election if Streeting were to trigger a contest.

Pressure for Starmer to step aside or face a leadership challenge has intensified since the Labour Party suffered disastrous losses in local and regional elections last week.

Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office leaves 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

FILE - King Charles III looks up as he reads the King's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords in London on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)

Britain's Health Secretary Wes Streeting arrives in Downing Street for a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets construction apprentices during a visit to London South Bank Technical College in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Efforts to unseat British Prime Minister Keir Starmer broke out into open rebellion Thursday, with one potential rival resigning from the Cabinet and another clearing the way for her to enter any future leadership contest.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting became the first senior minister to quit Starmer ’s Cabinet Thursday in what is expected to be a precursor to challenging his leadership.

Starmer is facing growing pressure to step down after his Labour Party’s disastrous results last week in local and regional elections.

“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour Unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism,’’ Streeting wrote in a letter. “It needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope you will facilitate it.”

Streeting, whose political ambitions have long been known, is considered one of a handful of people who could try to unseat Starmer.

Separately, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said Thursday that she had reached an agreement with tax authorities to clear up questions about her taxes that forced her to leave the Cabinet last September. Rayner told the Guardian newspaper that Starmer should “reflect on” his position, adding that she was ready to “play my part” in any leadership election if Streeting were to trigger a contest.

Pressure for Starmer to step aside has intensified since Labour suffered disastrous losses in local and regional elections last week, underscoring voter frustration with a government that has failed to deliver on pledges to boost economic growth and improve living standards for working people.

Labour “just had a severe beating off the electorate” and everyone in the party recognizes things have to change, Rayner told ITV News, without directly addressing calls for Starmer to resign.

“Some people are saying that, but what I’m saying is the delivery of what we promised the electorate is the most important thing that we need to be concentrating on at the moment. I’m not getting into hypotheticals about leadership at the moment.”

A stagnant economy and stubbornly high consumer price inflation have made it difficult for Starmer’s government to deliver on its promises after winning a landslide election victory less than two years ago.

Starmer has vowed to remain in office, warning lawmakers that any leadership contest would plunge the government into “chaos” at a time it should be focused on issues like the cost of living crisis and war in the Middle East.

His effort to fight off a leadership challenge was bolstered Thursday morning by a rare bit of positive economic news.

Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic activity, grew 0.6% in the first three months of the year, compared with 0.2% in the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said the figures showed that her policies were working and that renewed economic growth would allow the government to put more money into public services and programs to support those hit by the high cost of living.

“But that is only possible because of the economic stability that we have brought back to our economy,” she told the BBC. “And we shouldn’t put that at risk by plunging the country in chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world.”

There was also positive news from the National Health Service. Waiting lines for NHS appointments — one of Streeting's signature priorities – had fallen for the fifth straight month, boosting any potential candidacy.

Streeting comes from the moderate wing of the left-leaning Labour Party, as does Starmer. Rayner is a favorite of many more left-wing voters, calling on the party to do more to boost the minimum wage and raise taxes on the rich.

Under Labour Party rules, any potential challenger to the prime minister would have to have the backing of 81 of the party’s 403 members in the House of Commons. More than that number have publicly called on Starmer to quit in recent days.

But other potential candidates may enter any race for the leadership.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has been widely discussed as a potential candidate, though he would have to find a way back into Parliament before he could run. Allies have suggested a sitting member of the House of Commons could resign to make way for Burnham to run in a special election.

Burnham canceled his regular Thursday appearance on a local BBC radio program this week to “prioritize discussions arising from last week’s elections.”

British Health Secretary Wes Streeting walks through the House of Commons to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, walks through the House of Commons to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

Members of the King's Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms arrive at the Sovereign's Entrance for the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP)