Keir Starmer Resigns as UK Prime Minister; Government Had Cut Net Migration and Hospital Waits

Keir Starmer announced his resignation as prime minister on Monday. The move came ten years to the day after the 2016 Brexit referendum and less than two years after he led the Labour Party to victory in the July 2024 general election. Andy Burnham won a by-election last week and was sworn in as a member of Parliament on the same day as the resignation announcement.

Burnham previously served as mayor of Greater Manchester, where the region recorded the fastest economic growth among UK regions. Starmer stated that morning he had meetings with ministerial colleagues. " Britain's economy ranks as the world's sixth largest.

Net migration rose from 335,000 in 2016 to 944,000 in 2023. Starmer's government recorded a decline in net migration and a reduction in hospital waiting lists before his resignation. A U.K. in a Changing Europe analysis estimated the economy is 6 to 8 percent smaller than it would have been without Brexit.

Real average wages have shown no increase since 2008 after adjusting for inflation. School spending per pupil fell 9 percent between 2010 and 2019, and welfare budgets were 10 percent lower than projected by 2020. A London School of Economics study estimated that austerity measures between 2010 and 2019 reduced average life expectancy in Britain by half a year.

No official timeline for the leadership contest has been announced.