UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign

By Kevin Shalvey
June 22, 2026, 2:40 AM

LONDON -- Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday he would resign as the leader of his party and as prime minister, setting the stage for the United Kingdom's seventh prime minister within a decade.

"The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election," he said outside 10 Downing Street. "I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace."

Starmer, who had lead the Labour Party since 2020, was elected in 2024. A formal challenge to Starmer's premiership had not yet begun as of Monday, but members of his party have in recent weeks pointed to Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, as his potential successor.

Burnham, who won a special election on Friday to become a member of parliament representing Makerfield, was expected to be sworn in in the House of Commons on Monday.

Many in Starmer's Labour party had written to Starmer asking him to step down following local elections in May, during which saw the party lost more than 1,000 seats on local councils, results that were widely interpreted as a repudiation of Labour's performance to date by British voters.

Starmer long said he intended to see out his full five-year term, which began with his party's 2024 landslide election victory that ended 14 years of Conservative Party government and delivered Labour a historic majority in the House of Commons.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News' David Brennan contributed to this report.