Wes Streeting has warned the Labour Government is losing the fight against nationalism and, unless it changes course, risks “handing the keys of No 10 to Reform”.
He delivered his resignation speech in the Commons on Wednesday after quitting as health secretary last week and calling on the Prime Minister to step down.
Mr Streeting’s criticism adds pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, which looks set to be challenged by Andy Burnham if he is successful in his bid to return to Westminster.
The Makerfield by-election, in which the Greater Manchester mayor will stand as Labour’s candidate, will take place on Thursday June 18, Wigan Council has confirmed.
Mr Streeting told MPs: “I left the Government because we are in the fight of our lives against nationalism, and it is a fight that we are currently losing.
“Unless we change course, we risk handing the keys of No 10 to Reform, and I do not want that on our consciences.
“For the first time in our history, nationalists are in power in every corner of the United Kingdom.
“Scottish and Welsh nationalism represents an existential threat to the future integrity of the United Kingdom.
“And Reform UK represent a threat to the values and ideals that have made this country great.”
He also told MPs he does not believe Labour has “time to waste in Government treading water” and said it needed to “fight” for young people, who “for the first time in our modern history, face worse prospects than the last”.
The UK has failed to protect young people from the “AI jobs apocalypse,” Mr Streeting said, warning that “unless mainstream democratic politics can answer these questions, others will exploit that vacuum”.
The former health secretary referenced the challenge Mr Burnham faces in the Makerfield contest.
He framed the battle as being between “progressives against reactionaries, of patriots versus nationalists, of hope over hate”.
“It’s Andy Burnham’s fight in Makerfield, and it is Labour’s fight for the soul of our country.”
Mr Streeting said his resignation had been an “emotional wrench”, but concluded his speech citing late bowel cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James in saying that it was “with no regrets and with rebellious hope that I have left the Government”.
“The Labour Party was elected to deliver real change. We still can.”
Mr Streeting has made clear he intends to stand in any leadership contest.
Exmouth and Exeter East MP David Reed, speaking for the Conservatives, said watching Mr Streeting’s speech was “quite intimidating, looking before and seeing the Streetonian Praetorian Guard in full force”.
Mr Streeting was flanked as he spoke by Jess Phillips, who has resigned as a Home Office minister, and former parliamentary private secretary Rosie Wrighting.
Also sitting near him were Naushabah Khan, Melanie Ward and Joe Morris, who have also left their roles as ministerial aides, North West Cambridgeshire MP Sam Carling, and former health minister Zubir Ahmed.
Mr Streeting’s former colleague John Healey later said he had “missed” the former health secretary’s presence at the Cabinet table this week.
“He gave us a reflective speech,” the Defence Secretary told the Commons.
“He is rightly proud of the Government’s record on rebuilding and reforming the NHS, but I trust he will agree … that in defence we have certainly not been treading water.”
Dire local election results, calls from Labour MPs for him to go and a slew of resignations from the junior Government ranks last week threw Sir Keir’s political future into doubt.
But the Prime Minister has insisted he will not “walk away” from Downing Street.
No 10 declined to say whether Sir Keir, who has said he supports Mr Burnham “100%” in the by-election, would personally be knocking on doors in the Greater Manchester constituency.
Asked whether the Prime Minister’s backing of the mayor meant he supported his policy positions, Sir Keir’s political spokesman said: “Andy Burnham may speak as himself in that by-election as the candidate, obviously the Prime Minister speaks for the Government.”
New hypothetical polling with Burnham as leader turns a 7 point lead for Reform UK into a 3 point lead for Labour. Obviously hypotheticals are just that and things change when they become reality (see Your Party), but the size of the shift is striking. pic.twitter.com/quUFuSzs5o
— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) May 20, 2026
If Mr Burnham were the leader of Labour, the party could reverse its polling woes and beat Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in a general election, according to a More in Common survey.
After Mr Streeting’s last remaining parliamentary aide quit on Tuesday, the Government on Wednesday announced the appointment of new parliamentary private secretaries to replace them.
Laura Kyrke-Smith and Oliver Ryan have been appointed to the Health Department; Chris Vince to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; Joanna Baxter to the Foreign Office; Lauren Sullivan to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Lloyd Hatton to the Energy Department; and Elaine Stewart to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives announced former Wigan councillor Michael Winstanley would face Mr Burnham in the Makerfield by-election.
Mr Winstanley, who also contested the seat for the Conservatives in 1997, said the by-election was “an opportunity to give Makerfield a strong local voice who understands the area”.
