Updates: UK PM Keir Starmer announces resignation

Our latest news story on today’s events is here.

We have an explainer on why Starmer resigned and who is likely to take over.

For a detailed account of Starmer’s rise and fall, check out this analysis.

For a look at Britain’s political turmoil over the past decade, click here.

And we have also published Starmer’s full resignation statement.

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a look at the day’s main events:

• Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation in a televised statement outside No 10 Downing Street  after coming under mounting pressure from within his own party.
• Andy Burnham, widely expected to be Starmer’s successor, has confirmed he will stand for the leadership, after arriving in London to be sworn in as an MP following his resounding by-election victory in Makerfield last week.
• Wes Streeting, who had been seen as the main potential challenger to Burnham, says he is not standing and urged the party to unite behind him. Other possible contenders have yet to clarify their positions, including Starmer’s former deputy Angela Rayner and former armed forces minister Al Carns.
• If Burnham stands unopposed he could be prime minister as early as July 17. If there is a contest, Starmer said he would ensure a new leader was in place by September.

The Republic of Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin has described Starmer as “a person of great ability, decency and honour” and thanked him for improving relations between the two countries.

“I want to acknowledge the significant role Keir played in resetting the Irish-British relationship as well as relations between the UK and the European Union during his time as Prime Minister,” Martin said in a statement.

“Since Keir took office two years ago, he has worked with us to set a new direction and depth in the relationship between Ireland and the UK, for the benefit of all our citizens, north-south and east-west,” he added.

“Our two governments also took an important step forward in dealing with the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland publishing a joint framework on addressing the legacy of the Troubles,” said Martin, referring to a conflict between republicans and pro-British unionists and British forces that formally ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

In his resignation statement, Starmer said he would stay in post as prime minister until his successor is in place, and that Labour’s National Executive Committee will open nominations on July 9.

“In the case of a contest, this will ensure a new leader is in place before parliament returns in September,” he said.

But it’s looking increasingly likely there will be no contest.

Wes Streeting, who had been seen as the most likely rival contender, says he is not standing and will support Andy Burnham.

We’re waiting to hear from other possible contenders, including Starmer’s former deputy Angela Rayner, who resigned last September over unpaid property tax, and Al Carns, who quit last week as armed forces minister over Starmer’s funding plans for national defence.

If only Burnham puts his name forward, he could be prime minister as early as July 17.

Following his swearing-in as a member of parliament, Andy Burnham took a selfie with Labour MPs.

It’s looking increasingly probable that he will become the next prime minister without a contest.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he considers Starmer a friend and is “thinking of him on what must be a very tough day”.

“When the time comes for Keir to leave Downing Street, he can be proud of the contribution he has made to the country he loves and to the Labour Party that he led back to government in 2024,” Albanese posted on X.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities we had to work together to strengthen our AUKUS defence and security partnership, support the brave people of Ukraine and keep children safe from the damage that social media can do.”

“I would like to thank Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his contribution to strengthening the Franco-British relationship, his commitment within the coalition of the willing for Ukraine, as well as to relaunching the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union,” French President Emmanuel Macron has posted on X.

“The work accomplished together on defence, nuclear energy, space and innovation, particularly during our Franco-British summit last July, testifies to this commitment. We will continue along this path for the benefit of our peoples and of Europe.”

It has been “a very dramatic day here at Number 10”, said Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela, reporting from outside Starmer’s official residence in Downing Street.

“Just last week he was vowing that he would fight any kind of contest, but it seems that the political pressure just got too much,” she said.

“He has lost the backing of his party after months of poor polling, local election losses, criticism over policy reversals and ultimately a failure to connect with the people. It seems that he was told, and obviously accepted, that fighting on would be fruitless,” Angela said.

“There was quite an emotional moment as well in his speech, for a man who’s often been criticised as being quite stiff and quite wooden. His voice was almost breaking when he thanked his wife and his children.”

Noting that Starmer came into politics relatively late in life, and was in his 50s when he became an MP, Angela said: “It is a spectacular rise and fall for him.”

Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who had been regarded as a leading candidate to replace Starmer as prime minister, says he’s backing Andy Burnham.

“Keir Starmer led us to a general election victory that no one thought possible. He kept us out of the war in Iran and has delivered real progress as Prime Minister at home. He has made the right decision to stand down as the Leader of the Labour Party that he saved,” said his statement posted on X.

Streeting, who resigned from the Cabinet in May to pressure Starmer to step down, said last week’s Makerfield by-election “was a victory for unity and hope over division and hatred”.

“Having spoken at length with Andy in recent days, I’m convinced … that he is committed to building an inclusive party that draws on the best of our political traditions; and that he can win the fight of our lives against the forces of nationalism,” Streeting said and urged others to back Burnham too.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Keir Starmer has resigned as leader of Britain’s Labour Party, paving the way for a leadership contest to decide the next prime minister.
• Andy Burnham, widely expected to be Starmer’s successor, has confirmed he will stand for the leadership. He arrived in London to be sworn in as an MP after his resounding by-election victory in Makerfield last week.
• A new prime minister is expected to be in office as early as mid-July.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised Starmer’s support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. The Kremlin says it expects nothing to change no matter who replaces him.

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill says Keir Starmer’s decision to step down as British prime minister exposes the instability of Westminster and strengthens the case for breaking away from Britain.

In a post on X, she said Starmer’s departure “underscores the chaos of Westminster” and argued that people in Northern Ireland would be better served by “breaking our links with Britain”.

O’Neill accused successive British governments of cutting public services and weakening the economy.

“Successive British governments have cut our public services and weakened our economy, leaving ordinary people struggling to make ends meet while a small elite grows ever wealthier,” she said.

O’Neill said she was ready to work with the next British prime minister but warned that London must change its approach.

Yanis Varoufakis, a former Greek finance minister who is secretary general of the leftist Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, has posted a scathing verdict on Starmer on social media.

“Keir Starmer was not merely a disappointment. He is a mendacious figure of ethical decrepitude, a man who won the Labour Party leadership based on promises that he jettisoned five seconds after winning,” Varoufakis wrote on X.

“Consider the litany of Starmer’s moral and logical failures. He promised a ‘different Britain’, yet his actions were a masterclass in Tory-lite politics – using the same maxed-out credit card analogies that once served the austerity brigades to justify his own failure of vision. He promised a human rights lawyer’s approach but he embraced a racist-lite version of Farage.

“And then there’s the manner in which Starmer and his government rushed to offer Israel unequivocal support in pursuing its genocide in Gaza, sacrificing precious political and civil liberties in the UK by imprisoning grandmothers, priests and peaceful activists who dared support Palestine Action, an organisation that Starmer and his minions proscribed as terrorists for practising the usual activist tactics of trespassing to spray paint military planes that had demonstrably aided in the genocide,” Varoufakis said.

“To add insult to injury, Starmer performed the diplomatic pantomime of recognising a Palestinian state, in a manner that ensured it would never happen,” he added. “History will remember Mr Starmer as a man without conviction, a Prime Minister who offers not a shred of honesty, but merely the cruel illusion of change. He is ethically decrepit because he had chosen, consciously, to abandon principle for power. And for that, history will indict him. Good riddance, I say.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised Starmer’s support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion while the Kremlin says it expects nothing to change no matter who replaces him.

“Keir, thank you for all our cooperation, your support, and the joint decisions that have helped make our Europe and our protection of life stronger,” Zelenskyy said on X.

In a daily briefing call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “It is hardly likely that anyone on the current British political scene will take a different position on our bilateral relations from Keir Starmer.”

EU leader praises Starmer
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has praised Starmer’s legacy.

“It can take many leaders years to grow into the statesman you became in just two years,” she said on X. “European and Ukrainian security is stronger because of you. Thank you, dear Keir.”

German leader calls Starmer a reliable partner
“The German government has always had in Keir Starmer a reliable and close partner in foreign policy questions, particularly regarding Ukraine,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson, Stefan Kornelius, told reporters. He declined to comment on the “internal motives in Britain”.

He said the government believes a meeting that Merz plans to host in Berlin on Wednesday of the so-called “E5” – Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Poland – will go ahead as planned despite Starmer’s announcement.

The meeting is meant as part of preparations for an upcoming NATO summit.

Norwegian PM thanks Starmer for ‘strong and close partnership’
“I respect the decision he has made,” Jonas Gahr Store, a fellow centre-left leader, said in a statement.

“The United Kingdom is Norway’s close ally in Europe, and over the past two years, our countries have grown even closer through important agreements,” he said.

Store added: “We have worked closely together to strengthen security cooperation in Europe and to support Ukraine.”