Main Points
- UK prime minister and Labour leader Keir Starmer has addressed the House of Commons in London amid a potential challenge to his leadership
- Starmer met health secretary Wes Streeting, whose allies believe he may mount a challenge as soon as Thursday, on Wednesday morning
- The 16-minute Downing Street meeting, after which Starmer said he had “full confidence” in Streeting, came ahead of speech by Britain’s king Charles III opening parliament
- Starmer’s position has become increasingly tenuous since Labour’s hammering in elections across Britain last week
- The Scottish National Party plans to hold a no-confidence vote in Starmer
Best Reads
- Starmer’s stubborn stand: Boris Johnson’s ghost looms large as Labour turn the screw
- Who could replace Keir Starmer as UK prime minister?
- Farage’s success is the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party meme come to life
That concludes Wednesday’s live coverage.
For a full recap of the day’s developments, see the latest piece from London Correspondent Mark Paul.
Labour leadership phoney war set to end as real battle begins
London Correspondent Mark Paul writes from Westminster:
The phoney war for the leadership of the UK Labour Party, which includes the keys to 10 Downing Street, nears an end and the real battle looms into view.
Allies of Wes Streeting, who has spent the past 22 months in cabinet pumping money into his country’s ailing health services, are set to begin the race to sign up the 81 MPs needed for him to formally challenge party leader, UK prime minister Keir Starmer.
Streeting walked into the prime minister’s Downing Street study on Wednesday morning as Starmer’s health secretary, a top cabinet performer. Sixteen minutes later, he walked out as his apparent nemesis.
Streeting has long wanted the top job. It seems we are about to find out just how much. His allies insisted he would resign – assuming he wasn’t sacked first.
Read his analysis in full.
[ Streeting expected to fire the starting gun on bid to unseat StarmerOpens in new window ]
Labour MP calls for Starmer to step down in Commons
Jonathan Brash has become the first Labour MP to call for Starmer to step down as prime minister on the floor of the House of Commons.
The Hartlepool MP said: “The message last week was unmistakable. People want a government that acts with urgency, courage and purpose against the crushing pressures of everyday life.
“And if they do not get it, they will once again roll the dice, and even if it is on a charlatan, because desperation drives risk, and people are desperate for hope.
“And for however difficult it may be for many on these benches to admit, it is now clear to me that this prime minister can no longer provide that hope.
“I do not say it with pleasure, but leadership is not only about knowing when to fight on, it is also about knowing when your authority has ebbed, when trust has frayed, and when it is time to leave the stage.”
Brash was the first MP to call for Starmer to resign, after his wife lost her seat in the local elections.
He also used his speech to call for “bolder” policies, including abolishing council tax and replacing it with a more progressive system, nationalising water companies and Royal Mail, “standing up for” the Waspi women, and, if necessary, “declaring a state of emergency on our borders and turning boats back”. – PA
Backers of another potential Labour leadership contender, Andy Burnham, suggested they would push party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) to allow for his inclusion by extending the timetable for any contest.
The Greater Manchester mayor, who is favoured by the soft left of the party, would first need an MP willing to stand aside so he could fight a byelection to try to re-enter parliament.
A senior Labour MP who backs Burnham said: “The NEC decides the timetable so Wes triggering doesn’t stop Andy contesting.
“It would be outrageous for them to try and block the most popular politician in the country from standing.” – PA
Starmer has told allies he will stand and fight if health minister Wes Streeting succeeds in triggering a leadership contest, Times political editor Steven Swinford said in a post on X. – Reuters
It is being reported by PA that Starmer is meeting with Labour MPs and ministers in the UK parliament as he seeks to avert a potential challenge to his leadership.
Cabinet ministers loyal to Starmer have also been working the members’ tea room urging colleagues not to “plunge the party into chaos” and warning that a leadership contest would paralyse the government for months.
Elsewhere, the UK chancellor has pulled out of an event she was due to attend in Leeds on Thursday, the British treasury confirmed, citing diary changes.
Rachel Reeves, the MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, has been spotted speaking to MPs in the members’ tea room as Starmer’s leadership looks set to be challenged by Streeting. – PA
Starmer ‘may soon not be in power’, says Davey
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats leader, spoke after Starmer.
He said his party would vote against the king’s speech and this was the most surreal state opening he had attended.
“The prime minister may soon not be in power, not in place for his own programme, not able to deliver these promises.”
Davey said, if every Labour MP who has called for Starmer to go voted against it too, the government might be defeated.
“We will be voting against, not just because the prime minister is one of the weakest prime ministers in postwar history now, but because this king’s speech does not offer the change our country needs.”
He was particularly critical of the proposals on Europe, saying the speech included “an EU reset bill that fails to reset, from a prime minister who knows a thing or two about failed resets”.
He went on: “Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised with the prime minister’s refusal to remove his red lines on a new EU-UK customs union, the prime minister’s refusal to go further than his red lines on the single market, the prime minister’s refusal to deliver a new, deep trading relationship with our European partners, with a proper youth mobility scheme.
“That all means his consigning our country to higher prices, and lower growth, and failing to address the economic insecurity plaguing our economy.” – The Guardian
Starmer said the king’s speech sets a “hopeful course” and he criticised those who “feed the frustration with that status quo into a politics of grievance and division”. – PA
Starmer will navigate closer relationship with EU ‘carefully’
Starmer has said “there is no good reason to oppose” his efforts to recalibrate London’s relationship with Brussels.
He said he will navigate closer relations with the European Union “carefully”.
Responding to an intervention from TUV MP Jim Allister (North Antrim), the prime minister said: “I’m very well aware of the tensions in Northern Ireland, the issues that have to be dealt with in relation to relations with the EU.
“We have to face the fact that promises were made about Brexit, which were not true, which haven’t borne fruit.
“It is in our economic interests, our national interest, and defence interests, to be closer to Europe. Of course, we will navigate carefully, taking on board the issues in Northern Ireland, as he would expect, but it is in our interest to be closer to the EU.”
Starmer was also pressed by Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp on when the defence investment plan will be published, to which he said it “is being finalised and will be published soon”. – PA
Wednesday afternoon recap
Starmer told the House of Commons that his government will seek to rebuild the UK’s relationship with Europe.
Starmer described Badenoch’s comments as a “ray of sunshine” in response.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch earlier told Starmer that he is facing “a crisis of vision, charisma and electoral success”.
She said: “We spent the last session listening to Labour MPs telling us how great everything was going. No doubt we will hear lots of grandstanding speeches this week telling us what a fantastic job they did.
“How absurd, given the number of them demanding that the prime minister stands down.
“We counted, there were 24 U-turns in that first parliamentary session: winter fuel, family farms, grooming gangs, welfare reforms, social media for under 16s, day one workers’ rights, the list goes on and on.
“And every single one of these U-turns had at its core a single issue: the prime minister’s total lack of judgment. This is a man who, faced with a crisis of vision, charisma and electoral success, sent for Gordon Brown.
“Leadership is about having a vision for this country. It’s about having the courage to take difficult decisions, persuading your party that those difficult decisions will pay off in time, and taking responsibility for your mistakes. He has failed on every count.”
When faced with Labour MPs making noise during her speech, Badenoch said; “I know they can’t wait to get back to their plotting”, and later; “They want to lead our country, they can’t even lead a coup”. – PA
UK prime minister Keir Starmer is speaking in the House of Commons in London.
No 10 confirms Streeting is still in post as health secretary
Downing Street has now confirmed that Wes Streeting is still health secretary. Starmer’s spokesperson told reporters the prime minister has “full confidence” in the health secretary.
King Charles focuses on security in UK parliament speech
King’s speech focuses on security as prime minister faces potential leadership challenge
Keir Starmer’s government vowed to protect the UK against external and economic threats in a king’s speech that majored on security even as the prime minister faces a potential challenge to his own leadership.
Buttressed by all the pomp and pageantry the British state can muster, Britain’s king Charles III on Wednesday delivered the parliamentary set-piece in the House of Lords, outlining some three dozen bills and draft bills that Starmer’s Labour administration plans to push through Parliament in the coming months.
They included legislation for closer EU ties and a tighter immigration system, as well as reforms to the police, National Health Service (NHS), courts, railways and water industry.
“An increasingly dangerous and volatile world threatens the United Kingdom,” the king said, delivering words penned by the government.
“My ministers will take decisions that protect the energy, defence and economic security of the United Kingdom for the long term.”
While king Charles said the government would respond to the dangerous world “with strength,” Starmer’s position has been greatly weakened in recent days as around 100 Labour members of parliament, including four junior ministers, publicly called for his departure in the wake of a disastrous set of local election results last week.
One of his would-be challengers, health secretary Wes Streeting, is preparing to resign his post to challenge Starmer as soon as Thursday, according to allies of the minister.
A spokesperson for Streeting didn’t deny that he was preparing to resign.
Earlier on Wednesday, Labour’s affiliated unions put out a joint statement saying “it’s clear that the prime minister will not lead Labour into the next election” – an intervention without recent precedent.
The speech sought to address one of the factors in Starmer’s recent unpopularity by including a bill to remove disgraced peers from the House of Lords.
That comes after the government was rocked by revelations about the depth and duration of former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Wes Streeting could mount formal leadership challenge as early as Thursday, say his allies
Allies of Wes Streeting have said he is preparing to stand down as health secretary amid deep frustration with Keir Starmer’s leadership, and could mount a formal challenge for the leadership as early as Thursday.
Downing Street insiders had suggested Streeting did not yet have the required support from 81 MPs, which is needed to formally launch a leadership bid, after the prime minister issued a “put up or shut up” ultimatum to his cabinet.
A source close to the health secretary told the Guardian on Wednesday that he was planning to resign on Thursday and launch a leadership bid. The idea that Starmer had seen off a putsch was “laughable”, they added.
“No one has the numbers till the bell is struck, even canvassing isn’t real, people need certainty before they write their name down. But he thinks he’s got the numbers,” they said.
A second MP, also close to the Streeting camp, said they had been involved in discussions about getting the requisite numbers he would need to trigger a contest, and had begun ringing round MPs.
Two other MPs said they had been called by allies of Streeting on Tuesday evening to tell them: “He’s going for it.”
One said they were unsure if the health secretary had sufficient backing to go through with the plan.
Streeting held brief talks with Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday morning, but the health secretary’s spokesperson said he was not planning to comment afterwards in order not to distract from the king’s speech.
Another MP, a close ally of Starmer, said the prime minister had always believed Streeting would not win the party and that he would fight any challenge – despite intense pressure from MPs who have publicly called for him to go.
One cabinet ally of the prime minister told the Guardian: “Personally I’d throw him in the river but luckily Keir Starmer is a calm and patient person.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Zubir Ahmed, a close ally of Streeting who quit as a minister on Tuesday, renewed calls for the prime minister to resign, saying his authority had “irretrievably ebbed away”.
Ministers will seek to improve relations with European partners, says king Charles
Speaking during his speech, king Charles also said his government would continue to pursue foreign policy based on “a calm assessment of our national interest”.
“It will continue its unflinching support for the brave people of Ukraine, who fight on the front line of freedom,” he said.
“My ministers will seek to improve relations with European partners as a vital step in strengthening European security. It will continue to promote long term peace in the Middle East and the two state solution in Israel and Palestine.”
He added that the government will also uphold the United Kingdom’s “unbreakable commitment to Nato and our Nato allies”, including through a sustained increase in defence spending.
“My government will seek to reinforce the long term energy, defence and economic security of the United Kingdom as an essential component of strength on the world stage,” he said.
“This will include housing, which can be a source of insecurity for many people.”
Britain’s health minister preparing to resign, according to reports
Britain’s health minister Wes Streeting is preparing to resign and could quit as early as Thursday, the London Times reported on Wednesday, adding that he is likely to mount a formal challenge for the party leadership.
Streeting had a brief meeting with UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday ahead of the King’s Speech, the report said, citing allies of Streeting who said he had made clear he was determined to proceed with the challenge.
Discussions have also taken place about preparing nomination papers for lawmakers to back a leadership challenge, according to the Times.
The Times cited a spokesman for Streeting as saying:
“Wes is the Health Secretary, he is proud of his record of falling waiting lists and a recovering NHS. He is not planning to say anything following his meeting with the Prime Minister that might distract from the King’s Speech.”
There was no immediate comment from his office. -Reuters
British people expect legislation to increase confidence in security of immigration and asylum systems, says king
King Charles also said the British government will improve the United Kingdom’s security by continuing to invest in the renewal of public services.
He said ministers will push forward with significant reforms to the police, the National Health Service (NHS) and to the criminal justice system to help them deliver services.
On immigration, king Charles said: “The British people expect legislation will be introduced to increase confidence in the security of the immigration and asylum systems.”
King Charles says UK government will introduce bill to ‘strengthen ties with the European Union’
During the 12-minute or so speech, Britain’s king Charles also said his government believes that improved trading relations are vital for “the United Kingdom’s economic security, for significantly raising economic growth and for lowering prices for working people”.
“My ministers will introduce legislation to take advantage of new trading opportunities, including a bill to strengthen ties with the European Union.
“My government will also support the economic security of British businesses. Legislation will be introduced to tackle late payments and to reduce the burden of unnecessary regulation through innovation.
“The United Kingdom’s economic security depends upon world class infrastructure; legislation will be introduced to unlock the benefits of airport expansion enable roads to be built at pace, including the lower Thames crossing, and deliver a fair deal for the North of England through northern powerhouse rail.”
Continuing his speech, Britain’s king Charles said his government believes the UK’s economic security depends on raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom.
He said ministers will support measures that maintain stability and control the cost of living and use public investment to shape markets and attract further private investment.
“They will deploy the power of an active state in partnership with business and enable reforms that support higher growth and a fair deal for working people,” he said.
King Charles has said his ministers will take decisions that “protect the energy, defence and economic security” of the United Kingdom for the long-term.
He said they will defend the “British values of decency, tolerance and respect for difference under our common flag” and will “harness the potential of the pride felt across this country for its communities”.
The king also said the British government would take “urgent action” to tackle anti-Semitism and ensure “all communities feel safe”.
Britain’s king Charles III has begun his speech, stating that an “increasingly dangerous and volatile world” threatens the UK, with the war in the Middle East “only the recent example”.
“Every element of the nation’s energy, defence and economic security will be tested,” he said.
“My government will respond to this world with strength and aim to create a country that is fair to all.”
Black Rod has just banged on the door. As soon as this happened, an MP shouted “Not now, Andy!”
Laughter rippled through the house at this obvious reference to Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor who covets a Commons return to challenge Starmer. The MPs are now filing down to the Lords.
Starmer has been sitting directly next to home secretary Shabana Mahmood who is believed to have asked him just 36 hours ago to plan a date for his departure.
From London Correspodent Mark Paul:
The Irish Times was just temporarily removed from the chamber – apparently the press gallery must be empty for the prayers before the opening of a parliamentary sitting. We were accidentally let in too early. When the prayers finish, we will be let back in to hear Black Rod bang on the door.
The state opening of parliament is about to begin, with Britain’s king Charles setting out the government’s planned new laws in a Westminster speech, reports Mark Paul. MPs are filing into the chamber of the Commons, gossiping among themselves while they wait for Black Tod to bang on the door and call them all down to the House of Lords.
A big cheer from some – but not all – Labour MPs for the arrival into the chamber of Starmer. Knowing laughter from SNP MPs. Starmer got the joke and joined in the merriment.
Politics and pageantry combine as Starmer drama continues
London Correspondent Mark Paul writes: This morning we are witnessing in Westminster two grand British traditions, both bound up in pomp and puffery.
The first is an old tradition: the king’s speech, when the monarch, Charles lll, arrives to parliament in a carriage to lay out his government’s legislative agenda for the next year or so ahead. This is British, primarily English, culture and tradition at its best – the fine folks in attendance, the regalia, the political theatre.
The second British tradition is rather more recent, but barely less grandiose and now as well entrenched: the latest attempted defenestration of a sitting prime minister.
Health secretary Wes Streeting held a showdown meeting this morning with Keir Starmer, the man whom he wants to unseat but who is stubbornly clinging on for now. It lasted just 16 minutes. Perhaps there was little left to say.
The last few days have been the epitome of Westminster psychodrama, with Starmer defying a chorus of calls to quit. There is expected to be something of a temporary lull in hostilities in the Labour Party today, however. The king is in the house. The politicians will behave themselves for fear of embarrassing the monarch while he is here.
Britain, as a union of nations, seems to truly doubt itself at the moment – politically, socially, economically. But there is one thing this country can do that few others can match: that is to put on a magnificent display of colour of tradition.
On days such as this, Britain really seems to know itself.
Union flags are fluttering on the poles around Parliament Square. All the surrounding streets are closed. The sound of marching bands is rolling in on the wind. There is a buzz about parliament, with people walking around in morning suits.
Starmer left Downing Street a few minutes ago for the short ride to parliament, while the British king will soon arrive also. Meanwhile, the sunshine has gone and the heavens have opened as dark clouds moved in. A political portent?
First, the pageantry. After, the raw politics returns.
The independence-seeking Scottish National Party, fresh from hammering Labour in last week’s Holyrood elections, says it will table a motion of no confidence as an amendment to the king’s speech later today. That will truly embarrass Starmer and his fitful Labour Party.
It never rains but it pours for this prime minister.
SNP plans to hold no-confidence vote in Starmer
The SNP has said it will table an amendment to the king’s speech proposing no confidence in Starmer.
Dave Doogan, the new SNP leader at Westminster, said: “This farce has to end now, so parliament can focus on the issues that really matter. It’s clear the only way that can happen is for Keir Starmer to go.”
“He has lost the confidence of voters and his own MPs, and there’s no coming back from that. The Labour Party must stop dragging this crisis out and put an end to it now. If the Labour cabinet ministers don’t have the decency to do the right thing – then parliament must.”
“Unless they put an end to this chaos now, the SNP will table a motion of no confidence in Keir Starmer to draw things to a close,” he added.
Streeting leaves No 10 after talks with Starmer last just 16 minutes
Starmer met health secretary Wes Streeting, who wants to replace him, this morning.
On Tuesday, Starmer in effect challenged Streeting to “put up or shut up” and, although some of Streeting’s allies have resigned from ministerial jobs, and others have joined the long list of Labour MPs publicly calling for Starmer’s resignation, by last night Streeting had still not launched a formal leadership challenge.
Streeting arrived for the meeting at Downing Street at 8.24am. He was out again 16 minutes later.
Streeting allies have indicated they don’t intend to brief on what happened until the king’s speech is over.
But it does not seem likely that a meeting that swift was cordial. What we don’t know is whether or not Streeting said he would launch a leadership challenge.
As Streeting left No 10, reporters shouted questions at him, asking if he had resigned. He did not reply.
Labour-supporting unions predict Starmer will not lead party into next election
Labour-supporting unions have predicted Starmer will not lead the party into the next election, in an intervention that threatens to further destabilise the UK prime minister after a damaging few days.
The 11 Labour-affiliated unions – which include Unite, Unison and the GMB – are expected to issue a joint statement on Wednesday saying “at some stage” the party will have to put a plan in place to elect a new leader.
In a leaked copy of the statement, reported by The Guardian, the unions said it was clear to them that Labour “cannot continue on its current path”, and despite some progress it was not doing enough to deliver the change people voted for at the last election.
They urged the party leadership to focus on the “fundamental change of direction on economic policy and political strategy” they said working people needed, rather than the “personalities and unfolding political drama” at Westminster.
King’s speech promises pomp, ceremony and some drama
The king’s speech today continues a long British tradition but it comes in surreal circumstances.
After travelling to parliament and donning the robe of state, Charles, will read a speech written by Starmer’s government setting out the planned new laws.
A package of more than 35 Bills and draft Bills will focus on measures to improve the economy, strengthen national security and “reform the state to support a more active government that is on the side of British people”, the government said.
But the implementation of that speech remains as uncertain as Starmer’s political future. If he were to be ousted, his successor would not be bound to follow the same plan.
After spending much of Tuesday behind closed doors at his Downing Street office as he sought to rally support, Wednesday’s ceremony will put Starmer’s struggle for power back in public view.
Under the gaze of television cameras and alongside leaders of rival parties, Starmer will walk in a procession of lawmakers from parliament’s lower house to its upper house, where the king will then speak.
Starmer will later deliver a speech in a parliamentary debate that is likely to be used by rivals to ridicule his position as a leader with badly damaged authority presenting an agenda that he may never get to deliver. – Reuters
Labour try to show some unity as king visits parliament
Keir Starmer vowed to fight on at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting and was publicly backed by several ministers at the top of British government, including his deputy, David Lammy, who urged colleagues to “step back and take a breath”.
Starmer told his cabinet the country “expects us to get on with governing” and “that is what I am doing”, but avoided being directly challenged as he declined to discuss his leadership during the gathering or meet critics individually afterwards, the Press Association has reported.
Starmer said he would only speak to ministers one-to-one about his fate, but did not do so once cabinet concluded, according to sources.
Efforts appear to be under way to present a united face – at least for today – when Britain’s king Charles will be in Westminster for the traditional king’s speech. Politico reported that Buckingham Palace had privately told Number 10 they do not want the king to be dragged into the conversation.
The importance of protecting Charles from the impression he is being used for political ends was stressed to Starmer’s officials, a person familiar with the matter told the political news outlet. – PA
Starmer set for showdown with leadership rival Wes Streeting
UK prime minister and Labour leader Keir Starmer is set for crunch talks with health secretary Wes Streeting, who appears poised to challenge him, Mark Paul writes ahead of another day of drama at Westminster.
Streeting, whose allies in Labour’s parliamentary party have spent days calling on Starmer to step down, is expected to meet Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday morning in advance of a planned speech to parliament by British king Charles.
The health secretary, as first revealed on Tuesday night by The Times, will confront Starmer about how he plans to get Britain out of the “mess” enveloping its politics. It is unclear whether Streeting will resign from his post, or ask Starmer to quit.
Starmer’s position has become increasingly tenuous since Labour’s hammering in elections across Britain last week. At last count on Tuesday evening, close to 90 Labour MPs had called on the prime minister to quit or set a timetable for his departure.
