Keir Starmer resignation LIVE updates: British PM resigns, paving way for Andy Burnham as successor

Labour officials have confirmed their next steps in deciding a future leader in what could be a vote among thousands of party members, but everything depends on whether anyone emerges to run against the clear front-runner, Andy Burnham.

The party’s National Executive Committee said it would meet to draft the plans for the contest.

“Following the Prime Minister’s announcement today that he intends to resign as leader of the Labour Party, Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, will shortly agree a timetable for the election of the next leader of the Labour Party,” it said in a statement.

Starmer made no statement on who should replace him. In any case, the choice of leader is not his decision – it is up to Labour MPs and party members. But if nobody else stands, the top job will go to Burnham by default.

Andy Burnham is a political insider turned outsider who aims to be Britain’s next prime minister.

The 56-year-old presents himself as an amiable northern everyman who prefers T-shirts to a suit and tie and spends his spare time playing soccer or spinning 1990s tunes during DJ battles.

He’s also an experienced politician whose career has taken him from high-level government jobs to the mayoralty of Greater Manchester, and now to the cusp of the prime minister’s office.

Burnham now looks set to be parachuted into Number 10 Downing Street after a remarkable turn to the national stage.

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Welcome to our live coverage of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation. If you’re just catching up, here’s what you need to know.

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced this evening (local time) that he will resign as leader of the Labour Party, paving the way for Britain’s seventh leader in a decade.
• His decision to resign follows his steep slide in the polls since taking power in a landslide less than two years ago and weeks of internal pressure from party colleagues calling on the leader to step down. The threat to Starmer increased sharply on Friday when rival Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, decisively won a byelection to return to Westminster, beating a candidate from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.
• The timetable is set for a decision on his replacement, although he did not name who that replacement might be. During his address, he made no mention of Burnham, who is clearly seeking to replace him. And he did not specify the exact date for the conclusion of a leadership decision. That decision will be up to the officials who lead the Labour Party.
• The Labour rules state that a leadership contest will be held only if there’s a vacancy or a successful leadership challenge is brought forward. Any challenger needs the endorsement of 20 per cent of Labour MPs – which means 81 of the 403 in the House of Commons.

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Keir Starmer’s decision to resign follows his steep slide in the polls since taking power in a landslide less than two years ago.

His government has suffered backbench revolts over welfare and spending policies, a tax scandal claimed deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, and Starmer’s judgment was called into question over his appointment of Peter Mandelson, a friend of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to the US.

Last month, Labour lost hundreds of council positions in local government elections, triggering grave doubts about the party’s fortunes.

The threat to Starmer, which has been building for months, increased sharply on Friday when rival Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, decisively won a byelection to return to Westminster, beating a candidate from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has led national opinion polls for more than a year.

with Reuters

Here are some of the key moments outside Number 10 Downing Street today in photos.

The Labour rules state that a leadership contest will only be held if there’s a vacancy or a successful leadership challenge is brought forward.

Any challenger needs the endorsement of 20 per cent of Labour MPs – which means 81 of the 403 in the House of Commons.

If there is more than one challenger with the required 81 nominations, it goes to a vote of thousands of Labour members and affiliated trade union members.

While Burnham has not launched this formal process at this stage, he spoke during the byelection campaign about the leadership and left little doubt that he would challenge.

Former health minister Wes Streeting said last month that he would enter a contest for the leadership, after quitting the cabinet and calling for Starmer to resign. One senior Labour figure told Reuters they believed Streeting could do a deal with Burnham, giving him a senior role if he stayed out of the contest.

Burnham is reportedly keen to wait until September to become prime minister – some of Starmer’s comments during the resignation certainly hinted at that – but The Independent writes that some Labour MPs want the transfer of power to take place as early as mid-July.

The British leader choked up towards the end of his address as he spoke about his family and vowed to spend more time with them when his tenure as prime minister was up.

Here’s how he concluded his short address:

When I leave the biggest job in the country, I shall spend more time on the most important job, being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife, Vic, who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad, and being the best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy.