UK PM Starmer pressured to resign after Burnham election win | Political Affairs

A UK minister has said Starmer is considering “political reality” after Labor rival Andy Burnham won the election.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is considering resigning within days, according to media reports, as he faces pressure from his Labor Party after winning a by-election with rival Andy Burnham.

Expectations are growing that Starmer could announce his resignation on Monday, the same day Burnham was sworn in as a lawmaker after winning Thursday’s vote by a narrow margin – a result that has been reassuring. Job statisticsincluding Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, to call on Starmer to leave.

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The resignation would make the United Kingdom’s seventh prime minister in a decade, the worst in the country’s modern history.

Starmer has been under pressure to step down after months of declining popularity, missteps and missteps.

In February, the Prime Minister came under fire when the Epstein revelations were revealed about Peter Mandelsonwho Starmer appointed as UK ambassador to the US in December 2024, it was revealed.

Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017, made it clear he wanted to lead the far-left party, warning in his election victory speech that he had “one last chance to make a difference”.

If he does well, he could become Prime Minister by default, because Labor has a large number of MPs.

Starmer is unpopular with voters, according to polls.

YouGov, an international opinion polling and data analysis company, reports that only 19 percent of Britons have a favorable opinion of the Prime Minister, and he is ranked ninth among Labor politicians.

Starmer insisted he would fight any attempt to remove him.

But the certainty of Burnham’s victory in the constituency of Makerfield in north-west England, where he nearly doubled Labour’s majority, has increased internal pressure on Starmer to quit.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said on Sunday that Starmer was “taking time to think about politics, challenges and opportunities”.

“They’ve been talking to different people,” Kyle told a Sky News reporter after sharing what he described as “the truth” with Starmer on Friday.

The Observer newspaper wrote on its front page on Sunday that Starmer was “expected to resign” the next day, while the Sunday Telegraph also said he was “ready” to go, citing allies of the British leader who had been in trouble.

The Observer said Starmer would “schedule his departure”, saying he had a meeting at the weekend in Chequers, the prime minister’s home town.

Labor is making progress local and regional elections in England, Scotland and Wales last month increased the pressure on him.

The fallout saw the former Makerfield Labor MP resign to allow Burnham to stand there.

Burnham, a former MP and cabinet minister under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is due to be sworn in to parliament on Monday.

From the so-called soft-left wing of Labour, he strengthened his reputation as the most popular figure in the party by easily defeating the leader of the Reform UK party against him in this week’s special election.

Reform, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, won all of Makerfield’s wards in local elections last month.