Allies of Wes Streeting say he will launch challenge of Keir Starmer tomorrow

Leaked draft statement says party ‘cannot continue on its current path’ under PM

Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets construction apprentices during a visit to London South Bank Technical College. Picture date: Tuesday May 12, 2026.

Allies of Wes Streeting have said he is preparing to quit as health secretary 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 the 81 MPs needed to formally launch a leadership bid after Keir Starmer issued a “put up or shut up” ultimatum to his cabinet.

But a source close to Streeting told the Guardian 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 added.

A second MP, also close to the Streeting camp, said that they had been involved in discussions about getting the requisite numbers he would need to trigger a contest.

Two other MPs have said they had been called by allies of Mr 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.

Mr Streeting, on Wednesday morning, visited Downing Street for crunch talks that lasted less than 20 minutes. The British Health Secretary did not speak to reporters on his way in or out of Number 10.

The talks with Mr Streeting, seen as one of the key rivals for the Labour leadership, come after Mr Starmer has so far managed to see off an immediate threat this week despite ministerial resignations and at least 80 MPs calling for him to quit.

It comes as Labour supporting unions have predicted that Mr Starmer will not lead his party into the next British general election, in an intervention that threatens to further destabilise the British 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.

At a private meeting on Tuesday, the unions were divided over whether to call for Mr Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure, with one source telling the  Guardian there had been a “big fight” among union officials.

However, they are understood to have agreed to issue a statement saying they expect there to be a change of leadership, despite GMB and Community arguing it was not in the unions’ best interests to get involved in leadership wrangling.

In a leaked copy of the statement, 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.

Mr Starmer was increasingly confident that he had seen off the immediate threat to his job on Tuesday after a challenge from Wes Streeting failed to materialise despite several of the health secretary’s allies quitting the government.

But the British pm’s fragile authority has been weakened by the resignation of four ministers – three of them close allies of Streeting – in what appeared to be an orchestrated move. More than 90 Labour MPs have also called for him to go since the weekend.

Mr Starmer, who told his cabinet he would fight on as prime minister after a turbulent few days, was hoping that his second king’s speech on Wednesday would be another reset moment for the government to help unite his deeply divided party.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting Picture: James Manning/PA Wire

While he appears to have survived for now, even his most loyal ministers have privately acknowledged that he is unlikely to take Labour into the next election, unless he can dramatically turn around his and the government’s fortunes.

In their draft statement, which is due to be released on Wednesday, the union general secretaries wrote: “Labour’s affiliated unions have been clear that Labour cannot continue on its current path.

“Whilst we recognise progress has been made, such as aspects of the Employment Rights Act and the increase in the minimum wage, the results at the election last week were devastating.

“Labour is not doing enough to deliver the change that working people voted for at the general election. Our focus is on the fundamental change of direction on economic policy and political strategy that unions have been clear is needed, and not on the personalities and unfolding political drama in Westminster.” 

But they added: “It’s clear that the prime minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new Leader.

“This is a point where the future of the party we founded will be debated and determined – and we are working closely as unions to shape a shared vision on policy, political strategy and economic policy that will reorient Labour back to working people, so Labour do what it was elected to do: govern in the interests of workers.” 

Union officials were frustrated when Starmer pulled out of a meeting of the Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation [TULO] due on Tuesday, but agreed to meet for talks anyway.

The Labour leadership has had an increasingly tense relationship with the unions, which help to fund the party, since coming to power, despite big wins for unions on issues including workers’ rights and the minimum wage.

Some union leaders have urged Mr Starmer to quit, with Unite’s Sharon Graham saying the “writing is on the wall” for the prime minister after last week’s election disaster. Others have urged the party to focus on its plan to change the country rather than arguing about the leadership.

- The Guardian