Labour leadership battle: who are the contenders?

More than 88 Labour MPs have publicly called for Starmer to resign after the electoral bloodbath - while a separate list of over 110 Labour MPs has called for him to stay in post.

His Health Secretary Wes Streeting piled on the pressure by resigning on Thursday, warning Labour lacks “vision” as he teed up a potential leadership bid

He added it is clear Sir Keir “will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election” in his first public criticism of the current PM.

As pressure mounts, here are the key players who could throw their hat in the ring if a leadership contest is triggered.

Read more: LIVE: Wes Streeting quits as Health Secretary with swipe at Starmer as Labour civil war escalates

Read more:Wes Streeting slams Starmer's 'drift' in damning resignation letter as he fires opening shot in leadership race

Which Labour members could challenge Sir Keir Starmer?

Wes Streeting

Reports claim that the newly-released Health Secretary has amassed the 81 Labour MPs needed to trigger the formal contest.

The key line in Streeting’s resignation letter may be his call for a leadership debate to be “broad” and centred on ideas rather than personalities.

Streeting had been the health secretary since Labour's election victory in 2024 and has been MP for Ilford North since 2015.

Politically, he has been labelled as a Blairite, and on the right-wing of the party.

However, he has said he is not a fan of this label and he has a pro-Europe stance - having supported the Remain campaign in 2016.

Since Sir Keir was elected to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020, Mr Streeting has been promoted through the shadow ministry ranks to be the health representative in 2021 - and secretary from 2024.

Andy Burnham

The Greater Manchester Mayor could be up with a shot at the leadership following suggestions he 'has found Manchester seat' that could allow him to challenge Starmer.

The Times has reported that Afzal Khan, the MP for Manchester Rusholme, is open to standing down in order to allow the Mayor of Greater Manchester to return to Westminster.

Burnham has been seeking a Commons seat for months - and was blocked by Labour's governing National Executive Committee (NEC) from standing as party’s candidate in the Gorton & Denton by-election in February.

Burnham is said to be the preferred candidate of the party's so-called "soft left".

The 56-year-old is a long-time figure within the Labour party, having been MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester from 2001 to 2017.

Since May 2017, he has been Mayor of Greater Manchester - winning that election, and two subsequent votes in 2021 and 2024.

His achievements in the role include bringing the bus network under local government control, moving forward with a £300m housing fund, and launching the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate education path.

Angela Rayner

Former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has said she has been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing in an investigation over her tax affairs, paving the way for a potential leadership bid.

It comes after she resigned from the government in September 2025 after it emerged she failed to pay a £40,000 tax surcharge on a flat she bought.

Ms Rayner, 45, is seen as a potential champion of left-wing causes and publicly hit out at Starmer after the local elections, warning it’s the party’s “last chance” to change before the next elections.

She was previously linked to challenging Sir Keir on the back of a rocky period for the prime minister, which saw him forced to act when Lord Mandelson, his appointee as US ambassador, was implicated in the Epstein Files.

Reports in February 2026 said that she had raised a £1 million “war chest” to try and take on Sir Keir in a leadership challenge.

The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne has made her working-class origins her USP within a parliamentary scene made up of Oxbridge alumni.

She has defined herself as a socialist but has said she does not subscribe to one school of thought.

Ed Milliband

The former labour leader has not hinted at a return to the top of the party but has been tipped as a potential replacement.

But the Doncaster North MP has allegedly told Starmer to lay out the plan for his resignation in the wake of the local election disaster.

Mr Milliband was leader of the Labour Party from 2010 until 2015, when he stepped down after a poor result in a general election.

Currently the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Net Zero, Mr Milliband is another potential favourite for the soft-left.

The soft-Left faction of Labour had been expected to propose former Labour leader Mr Miliband as the other candidate for the soft left if Andy Burnham and Ms Rayner are blocked from running.

In February, the energy secretary told LBC  "I don't think leadership change is what we need” as pressure mounted on Starmer amid the Mandelson vetting scandal.

Al Carns

Armed forces minister Al Carns is the only person who has actually committed to running in a leadership contest.

The Scotsman’s allies say they expected him to stand if a leadership contest is triggered.

The MP Birmingham Selly Oak was appointed to Government as veterans minister as soon as he was elected.

Mr Carns, 45, had a distinguished 24-year career in the military where he rose the ranks to Colonel and completed four, earning an OBE.

If he can gather the 81 names required to get him a spot on the leadership ballot, Mr Carns would likely position himself as the candidate best able to take on Nigel Farage and win back Labour's northern heartlands.

Mr Carns - who was raised in Aberdeen by a single working-class mother - offered a window into his political vision in a recent article for the New Statesman in which he called for the party to return to its working-class roots.

“What is the point of Labour if it does not represent Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, Barnsley, Swansea and Aberdeen?” he wrote.