UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigns, says he has ‘lost confidence’ in PM’s leadership
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigns, says he has ‘lost confidence’ in PM’s leadership")
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting (R) Photograph: (AFP (File Photo)
Streeting and junior ministers Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jess Phillips, Alex Davies-Jones, and Zubir Ahmed resigned after Labour lost 450 seats and 12 councils. The Starmer government now faces a crisis as nearly 90 MPs demand a leadership departure timetable following the election rout.
UK health secretary Wes Streeting resigned on Thursday (May 14), marking one of the biggest exits from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet, after publicly declaring that he had “lost confidence” in the Prime Minister’s leadership.
In a lengthy resignation letter, Streeting said he was stepping down despite what he described as major achievements in improving the National Health Service.
“Having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so,” Streeting wrote.
Despite praising Starmer’s role in Labour’s 2024 election victory and his handling of foreign affairs, Streeting accused the Prime Minister of lacking vision and direction following Labour’s recent electoral defeats across England, Scotland and Wales.
“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” he wrote.
Streeting described the recent election results as “unprecedented”, warning that nationalism was now rising across the United Kingdom, including what he called a “dangerous English nationalism represented by Nigel Farage and Reform UK”.
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He argued that many progressive voters were “losing faith” in Labour and criticised several government decisions, including the controversial winter fuel allowance cuts and the Prime Minister’s “island of strangers” speech.
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“There are many reasons we could point to: from individual mistakes on policy like the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance to the ‘island of strangers’ speech, all of which have left the country not knowing who we are or what we really stand for,” Streeting said.
Streeting says Labour needs ‘bold vision’
The departing health secretary said Britain was facing enormous political and economic challenges, including wars in Europe and the Middle East, technological disruption and declining public faith in democracy.
“These are big challenges that require a bold vision and bigger solutions than we are offering,” he wrote.
Streeting also claimed that Starmer would not lead Labour into the next general election, saying Labour MPs and unions wanted a leadership debate focused on “ideas, not personalities or petty factionalism”.
“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election,” he stated.
Streeting’s resignation comes as the Keir Starmer-led UK government is rocked by a wave of exits following Labour’s disastrous performance in regional elections.
The party lost over 450 council seats and surrendered control of 12 local authorities, leading to the resignations of ministers Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jess Phillips, Alex Davies-Jones, and Zubir Ahmed.
These junior ministers have joined approximately 90 Labour MPs in calling for the Prime Minister to set a timetable for his departure, citing a lack of pace and vision in the government’s current direction.
