Starmer allies will not block Burnham, reports say

A sitting Labour MP resigned from his seat, paving the way for Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to potentially return to Westminster and mount a challenge to prime minister Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership. Wes Streeting, another likely contender for challenging Starmer, resigned as UK health secretary, saying he has “lost confidence” in the prime minister as leader of their party. Former deputy leader Angela Rayner has suggested she could enter any leadership contest. She has been cleared by tax authorities of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs. Starmer’s position as prime minister has become increasingly tenuous since Labour’s hammering in elections across Britain last week. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, confirmed on Thursday that he would ask Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) to allow him stand in a forthcoming byelection – a necessity in running for the top spot. And, according to reports in the Guardian, allies of Starmer have confirmed that he would not seek to block him doing so. It means, of course, that Burnham now has a potential route back to parliament and a chance to become Labour’s next leader. It all comes after an MP said he would trigger a byelection by standing down from his seat. That move has ended days of speculation about whether Burnham could secure a possible path back into Westminster, and underlined the increasingly precarious nature of Keir Starmer’s premiership. Meanwhile, Wes Streeting has stood down as health secretary after seemingly failing to get the numbers to launch a challenge against the prime minister. Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, has settled some tricky tax affairs, paving the way for her own return to frontline politics.