Third UK minister resigns as pressure mounts on PM Starmer

A junior minister in Britain’s justice department resigned on Tuesday in protest at Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership, adding to pressure on Starmer.

“We have needed to do more and therefore it is with a very, heavy heart that I feel I have no choice but to resign,” Alex Davies-Jones said in a letter addressed to Starmer posted on X.

A second junior minister, Jess Phillips, earlier resigned and wrote in a letter to Starmer, reported by Sky News and others, that she “cannot continue to serve as a minister under the current leadership” adding she was “not seeing the change I need.”

Miatta Fahnbulleh, a junior minister in the housing and communities department, also resigned from government on Tuesday.

“I urge the Prime Minister to do the right thing for the country and the Party and set a timetable for an orderly transition,” she posted on X.

JESS Phillips, parliamentary under-secretary of state at Britain’s Home Office, announced that she will resign from government, British media reported on Tuesday.

Her resignation comes amid growing calls for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down after the Labour Party’s poor showing in last week’s local elections.

Earlier on Tuesday, Miatta Fahnbulleh, a junior minister in the housing and communities department, also resigned and urged Starmer to announce an exit timetable.

In a resignation letter, Phillips said she could no longer serve under the current leadership, citing disappointment over the government’s direction.

“I want a Labour government to work and I will strive as I always have for its success and popularity, but I’m not seeing the change I think I, and the country expect,” she wrote.

British media reported that Starmer, during a cabinet meeting earlier on Tuesday, insisted he would continue governing, while no formal process to challenge his leadership had been initiated within the Labour Party.