Three Labour ministers in the British Government have resigned today, deepening the internal pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down after his party’s heavy defeat in local elections on May 7.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Decentralisation, Faith and Communities, wrote in her resignation letter that Starmer must “do the right thing for the good of the country and the party”. She called for “a timetable for an orderly transition”.
In the letter posted on her social media, Fahnbulleh said it had been a privilege to serve in a government working “at every level to deliver the change the country needs”. She praised her own time first as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Energy Consumers and later in her current portfolio.
“While progress has been made, we have not acted with the vision, speed and ambition that our mandate for change demands. Nor have we governed as a Labour Party clear in its values and firm in its convictions,” she wrote, pointing to cuts to social services as examples of Starmer’s mistakes.
“The message on the doorsteps was clear: you, Prime Minister, have lost the trust and credibility of the public,” she added. She also said that the United Kingdom faced “enormous challenges” and that the public was “crying out” for the scale of change required.
Alex Davies-Jones, Minister for Victims and Violence against Women and Girls, said in her own resignation letter that she was proud “to have driven through transformative changes that will help save lives and shift the terms of the debate”.
“More needed to be done and so, with great regret, I feel I have no choice but to resign. The scale of the electoral defeats in the Senedd Cymru, the Welsh parliament, and across the UK has been catastrophic. The country has spoken and we must listen,” she wrote.
Davies-Jones urged Starmer to take “bold and radical action” and called him “a good and honest man”, though said she hoped he would act “in the country’s interest and set a timetable for his resignation”.
Jess Phillips, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls, also described Starmer as “a good man” in her resignation letter though stressed that this “is not enough”, according to her message reported by Sky News.
“I want a Labour government to work and I will strive, as ever, for its success and popularity, but I do not see the change that I, and the country, were hoping for. I cannot continue to serve as a minister under the current leadership,” she said.
Phillips thanked Starmer for his support in tackling violence against women and girls, though accused him of acting only under pressure and of obstructing legislation to restrict the sharing or taking of explicit images by minors.
The fresh crisis follows Labour’s collapse in the local elections, in which Reform UK, the right-wing party led by Nigel Farage, made significant gains. Starmer has so far resisted his critics and ruled out resigning, arguing that such a move would only worsen the political “chaos” in the country.
