Former PM Starmer resigns from UK Parliament

The ex-leader announced his departure the same day his successor, Andy Burnham, faces lawmakers for the first time.MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday he will resign his seat in Parliament, ending 11 years as a lawmaker and opening the way for a special election for his successor.Starmer, who announced his resignation in his local newspaper, the Camden New Journal, said he had decided over the summer it was time to leave the House of Commons.Starmer resigned as prime minister in July after months of pressure from Labour lawmakers and the party’s poor performance in local elections across the country.Then-Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who had won a special election before returning to Parliament, became Labour leader and prime minister.“It has been a huge honor and privilege to represent the best constituency in the country,” Starmer said, referring to Holborn and St. Pancras, the constituency in north London he has represented since 2015.The former prime minister said he would now focus on “international affairs including defense, security, trade and technology in a fast-changing world.”In an open letter posted on X, Starmer said it was the right time to “hand the baton over to a successor.”The Labour Party will now begin selecting a candidate for the resulting special election. Starmer promised his “full support and backing” to the winner, and that he would “continue to give my full support to the prime minister and this Labour government.”The contest will be closely watched because Holborn and St. Pancras has been a safe Labour seat since the 1970s.Starmer was first elected there in 2015 with 53% of the vote, which dropped to 49% in the last election in 2024.It will offer the first electoral test of Burnham’s Labour government since Starmer’s departure from Downing Street.The previous special election in Clacton on Aug. 14 was an unusual exception.Labour and all other major parties boycotted the vote after far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage triggered the vote by stepping down as the constituency’s lawmaker. Farage then regained his seat.Starmer’s decision came the same day Parliament returned from its summer recess, putting his future in focus just as his successor began his first full parliamentary session as prime minister.Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after the party was reduced to its fewest parliamentary seats since 1935 under Jeremy Corbyn.Under Starmer, Labour won a landslide victory in the 2024 general election, returning the party to government after 14 years of Conservative rule.He pointed to that turnaround as the defining achievement of his political career.Despite winning a large majority in 2024, Starmer’s government struggled with falling popularity and internal criticism over multiple policy proposals before his resignation.His departure made him one of several British prime ministers to leave office after relatively short periods in Downing Street. Burnham is the seventh prime minister in the past decade.The U.K. will now prepare for its sixth special election this year.Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads