Northamptonshire MPs share their views on Keir Starmer's resignation
Labour politicians from across Northamptonshire have reacted to the Prime Minister’s resignation on Monday morning – with two stating that they would back Andy Burnham to be the next leader.
The LDRS asked all five local Labour MPs, from Northampton South to Corby and East Northants, what they made of Keir Starmer’s announcement that he would be stepping down over the summer after facing growing pressure from within his own party, and who they would back in a leadership race.
Kettering MP Rosie Wrighting said she believed the PM had made ‘the right decision to step down’, but praised him for rebuilding the party and showing that Labour ‘should be trusted again’.
She said: “But now we need to look forward and deliver for this country and we need a leader who can do that.
“I believe that leader is Andy Burnham. He’s shown what Labour can do when we’re inclusive, united, and in touch with the lives of working people.
“He understands the struggles people face. He knows how to lead. And he can win the fight against the forces trying to divide us.
“My party needs to come together behind him now.”
Mr Burnham announced he would stand for the Labour leadership shortly after Keir Starmer announced his timetable for departure from Downing Street, following his recent win in the Makerfield by-election.
Ms Wrighting previously made her position known when she resigned from her role as parliamentary private secretary in the department of health in May, following Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who had been prepared to trigger a leadership challenge.
Mr Streeting has since announced on social media that he would back the former Greater Manchester mayor to become the next Labour leader and PM.
Lee Barron, MP for Corby and East Northants, has also agreed that Mr Burnham should be the next politician to take up the top job and lead the Labour party and the country forward.
He told the LDRS: “I didn’t ever ask for Keir Starmer to go, I didn’t sign anything to say he should, as we turned around and said that we’d end that kind of churn of Prime Ministers.
"But, when 90 of your colleagues write to him to say he should stand down the writing’s on the wall.
“As a result of that, I’ll be backing Andy Burnham for the leadership. We need to focus on the change that we promised two years ago. People don’t want the status quo.”
He said that the recent Makerfield by-election was won on ‘a message of hope and of change, which is a message that we have not seen for a of couple years’, and demonstrated that the newly sworn-in Labour MP was fit to be leader.
However, he warned that the decision could not be taken lightly and that the decision to appoint a new Prime Minister could only be taken once, or the country would appear ‘ungovernable’.
He said: “This will be the seventh Prime Minister in ten years – we have got this one opportunity to get it right.”
Both of the Labour MPs in Northampton have also commented on Keir Starmer’s resignation and thanked him for his contribution to the party. However, they have remained more guarded on who they would like to see replace him.
Northampton South MP Mike Reader said he respected the PM’s belief that stepping down now is ‘in the best interests of the country’, and that he was ‘proud’ of what they had achieved since he came into office.
“Keir Starmer changed the Labour Party, and led us to the largest election victory in a generation. He came into office with a genuine desire to serve his country, and I know this decision will not have been taken lightly.
“My job, the job I was elected to do by the people of Northampton South, does not change based on who is in Downing Street. I will continue to do what I have done from the beginning, and make Northampton’s case at every opportunity.”
Lucy Rigby, for Northampton North, added: “Keir led our party to a landslide victory two years ago, on the promise of change that so many across the country were desperate to see.
“People are still looking for change as we saw last week in Makerfield, and it is critical that Labour can answer that call.
"We now need to unite and move forwards with a decisiveness and clarity of purpose: That purpose being the urgent task of national renewal, and ensuring that prosperity and opportunity are spread across every corner of the country.”
Wellingborough and Rushden MP Gen Kitchen has told the LDRS she is unable to provide a comment because she is a government whip.