Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he would resign, with a new leader to be in place \u200bby the time parliament returns in September, paving the way for Britan to have its seventh leader in 10 years. Less than \u200ctwo years after he won a landslide election victory that promised to end chaos in British politics, Starmer said it was clear that his party wanted him to go. \u00a0He said nominations for anyone to replace him would open on July 9. However his rival Andy Burnham is the clear frontrunner. “The question my party is asking now is whether I am \u200bbest placed to lead us into the next general election, I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and \u200bI accept that answer with good grace,” he said. The threat to Starmer, which had \u2060been building for months, increased sharply on Friday when Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, decisively won a parliamentary election to return to Westminster, beating a candidate \u200bfrom Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has led national opinion polls for more than a year. That victory gave hope to Labour lawmakers that Burnham, a career \u200bpolitician known for his communication skills, could transform the fortunes of a party that has lost support under Starmer, whose popularity ratings have sunk to the lowest for any British leader. Starmer thanked his colleagues for their support, his voice cracking with emotion as he also paid tribute to his wife and children. The pound and British government bonds were steady \u200bin the immediate aftermath of Starmer’s announcement, which investors had widely expected. Despite the attempt at a smooth handover, the change is not without risk. Beyond saying \u200bthat the country needs fundamental change and to bring down the cost of living, Burnham has yet to make clear his approach to foreign affairs, the economy and defence. Like \u200cStarmer, he \u2060could find he has little room to manoeuvre, hemmed in by bond market investors opposed to any additional borrowing, and confronted by an angry electorate which believes the country is not working properly. Britain already has the highest borrowing costs in the Group of Seven wealthy nations due to its high debt and interest payments, years of anaemic economic growth, its struggles to cut spending and the need to invest in areas like defence. Investors spoken to by Reuters were divided over whether Burnham, who \u200bsaid last September that Britain had to \u200bget “beyond this thing of being \u2060in hock to the bond markets” would respect the need to reassure markets. He has since said he was misrepresented. “In our view, a Burnham premiership would inherit a precarious fiscal situation with few tools to deliver meaningful change,” economists at \u200bCitibank said on Friday. Starmer had pledged to fight any challenge Starmer had said on Friday he would stand in \u200bany formal Labour leadership \u2060contest that sought to replace him. But that appeared to change over the weekend. Whoever replaces Starmer will become Britain’s seventh prime minister since the Brexit vote to leave the European Union which took place 10 years ago this week. That level of turnover – the highest in Britain in nearly two centuries – underlines the struggle of maintaining the support \u2060of voters \u200bangry at successive failures to improve living standards, public services and tackle illegal immigration. The political \u200badvisory group Eurasia had said the best outcome could be for Starmer to say he will step down in September, enabling him to attend a UK-European Union reset summit in July and \u200bgive Burnham time to prepare for government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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