Report says UK PM Keir Starmer may announce resignation on Monday

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was expected to resign on Monday and outline a timetable for his departure, although a government source said he remained focused on governing.

The pressure on Starmer, which had been mounting for months, intensified on Friday after rival Andy Burnham won a parliamentary seat that would enable him to mount a formal leadership challenge. Starmer was discussing the issue with his wife at his Chequers country residence before taking a final decision, and senior Labour figures were expecting a clear statement on his future as early as Monday.

A government source, however, pushed back on this and said Starmer was still concentrating on his work, pointing to earlier remarks in which he had said as much. On Friday, Starmer said he would contest any bid to remove him and urged Labour not to damage itself through internal infighting.

Mounting pressure inside Labour

Starmer led the centre-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in 2024, but his standing has since fallen sharply following a string of scandals and policy reversals that, have left many voters with the impression that he has failed to deliver the improvements in living standards he had promised.

If Starmer leaves office, whether by resignation or removal, Britain would be installing its seventh prime minister in a little over a decade, marking the highest turnover in nearly 200 years. This reflected public anger at successive governments' failure to improve public services and deal with issues including illegal immigration.

A Reuters tally cited more than 100 Labour lawmakers — about a quarter of the party's representatives in the House of Commons — have publicly called on Starmer to quit or set out a timetable for his exit. Starmer had concluded his position was no longer sustainable after talks with cabinet ministers, advisers, donors and trade union leaders.

Burnham seen as leading contender

Burnham, 56, is widely viewed within Labour as the strongest potential successor, either through an agreed transfer of power or a formal contest. He has built a strong base in the party as mayor of Greater Manchester and on Friday comfortably defeated the challenge posed by Nigel Farage's right-wing populist party in an election for a vacant parliamentary seat.

He did not immediately launch a formal challenge to Starmer, but in his victory speech he promised a new direction for the country. His allies have urged Starmer to step aside voluntarily and hand over power.

Former health minister Wes Streeting has also said he is prepared to challenge Starmer. Separately, The Times reported on Saturday that Burnham would remove finance minister Rachel Reeves if he became prime minister, after advisers concluded she would not represent enough of a break from the current direction. Reuters said it could not immediately verify that report.