British Labour Party lawmaker Josh Simons cleared the way for a possible leadership challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer by resigning from his seat, giving Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham the chance to return to parliament.
“Today, I am putting the people I represent and the country I love first and will be resigning as MP for Makerfield,” Simons wrote in a May 14 post on X. “I am standing aside so that Andy Burnham can return to his home, fight to re-enter Parliament, and if elected, drive the change our country is crying out for.”
Polling shows Burnham is favored by party members to take over from Starmer, who is under pressure following disastrous local election results for the Labour Party and a surge in support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Burnham would not be able to stand for leadership without returning to the House of Commons as an MP and resigning his mayoralty.
A vacant and winnable parliamentary seat was required to make this a possibility. A by-election for Makerfield, in the north-west of England, will now be held to replace Simons, who won the seat at the 2024 election with a majority of 5,399 votes over a Reform candidate.
Burnham confirmed his intention to seek the Labour candidacy of the seat from Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC).
A YouGov survey released on May 14, amid heightened speculation about the Labour leadership, showed Burnham “remains the most popular Labour figure among the public, with a net score of +4, and is the only figure a majority of 2024 Labour voters see positively.”
“I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years,” he wrote in a post on X following the announcement of Simons’s resignation. “I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics.”
Explaining his decision to seek a return to Westminster, Burnham said greater change is needed at the national level.
“There is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again,” Burnham wrote. “This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people.”
He added that the government and Starmer needed “space and stability” while the by-election is held.
Surge for Reform UK
Farage said in a post on X that Reform UK looked forward to the Makerfield by-election, vowing to “throw absolutely everything” at the campaign, in a bid to prevent a Labour win.
The parliamentary constituency of Makerfield is located within the boroughs of Wigan and Leigh. Historically a safe Labour Party seat, the local elections held earlier this month saw a huge swing to Reform, which won 24 out of the 25 council seats up for grabs. With Labour plunging in popularity, the by-election could be tightly contested.
Starmer has resisted calls from around a quarter of his MPs to resign, making clear he intends to fight any leadership challenge.
Streeting, Other Labour Lawmakers Resign
Earlier on Thursday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned and called for a leadership contest to oust Starmer, saying he had lost confidence in the prime minister.
Streeting, considered to be on the right of the party, was earlier accused by some of launching a coup against Starmer.
“I called for time for serious discussion, no precipitous coup & fully democratic process if leadership election,” Labour lawmaker John McDonnell wrote in a May 12 post on X. “Instead Wes Streeting has launched coup for fear of a democratic process & whilst candidates are blocked. Handing leadership to Mandelson’s protege is gift to Reform.”
In his resignation letter published on X, Streeting said Starmer had created a “vacuum” where the country needed a “vision” and urged him to listen to his fellow lawmakers.
“Leaders take responsibility, but too often that has meant other people falling on their swords,” Streeting wrote. “You also need to listen to your colleagues, including backbenchers, and the heavy-handed approach to dissenting voices diminishes our politics.”
He said it is now “clear that [Starmer] will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election.”
So far, Streeting is the most high-profile minister to resign, although a number of lawmakers have also quit their roles, saying they have lost confidence in Starmer.
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips resigned after a cabinet meeting on May 12.
“The desire not to have an argument means we rarely make an argument, leaving opportunities for progress stalled and delayed,” Phillips said in her resignation letter.
A junior minister in the housing and communities department, Miatta Fahnbulleh, also stepped down and urged Starmer “to do the right thing for the country” and put in place a timetable for his departure.
A third lawmaker, Minister for Victims Alex Davies-Jones, also resigned. Davies-Jones said in her letter, posted to X, that more radical action is needed than Starmer has offered.
Burnham’s Previous Leadership Bids
Burnham has failed in two previous bids to become Labour leader. In 2010, he finished fourth to Ed Miliband, who led the party to defeat by the Conservatives in 2015.
In 2015, Burnham finished second to veteran left-wing politician Jeremy Corbyn, who also led the party to election defeat.
Starmer, then a newly elected MP, backed Burnham to lead the party in 2015. The two served together in the opposition frontbench until Starmer resigned in 2016 to support Owen Smith in a leadership challenge, a move Burnham did not support.
In a 2016 social media post, Burnham said, “At an uncertain time like this for our country, I cannot see how it makes sense for the Opposition to plunge itself into a civil war.”
Leadership Contenders
The by-election for Makerfield will be held in about five weeks, meaning the UK could face weeks of uncertainty over whether Starmer will hang onto his job as Labour leader and prime minister.
Burnham is not yet formally Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield seat, but, unlike a previous bid for a parliamentary return earlier this year, the NEC is not expected to block him from entering the race.
Other Labour politicians who are tipped as possible contenders in a leadership race include former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who announced this week she had been cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation by tax authorities.
Rayner spoke in support of Burnham this week, telling a trade union conference that Burnham should “never have been blocked” by the NEC from standing as the Labour candidate in an earlier by-election
Other names widely mentioned as possible contenders include Miliband and Armed Forces Minister Al Cairns.
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