British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Resigns After Two Years

The move comes ten years after the Brexit referendum and follows a decade of political and economic turbulence that has already produced six prime ministers.

Background to the Resignation Starmer took office promising to reverse years of underinvestment in public services and to restore stability after repeated Conservative leadership changes. His government recorded modest reductions in hospital waiting lists and a decline in net migration, yet real wages remained flat and public trust in institutions stayed low.

Britain's economy is still 6% to 8% smaller than it would have been without Brexit, according to the U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank. Net migration rose from 335,000 in 2016 to 944,000 in 2023, while inflation peaked at 11% in late 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Starmer also faced global shocks from the February war involving Israel and the United States against Iran, which raised oil prices and borrowing costs.

The Leadership Transition Andy Burnham, who won a special election last week and was sworn in as a lawmaker Monday, is the clear frontrunner to succeed Starmer. Burnham previously served as mayor of Manchester, where the region recorded the fastest economic growth in the United Kingdom.

“Andy Burnham has a huge job just to understand the structural forces at play and even more to provide people with some sort of reassurance that life isn't out of control." — David Henig, former assistant director at Britain's International Trade Department Burnham has indicated he would seek greater public control over utilities and reform social care without raising taxes or increasing borrowing. The next prime minister will also confront pressure to raise defense spending as the United States reduces its traditional security commitments in Europe.”