Ex-minister who quit and called for Starmer to go tells LBC that Burnham must be able to stand as leader
Former Communities Minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, resigned earlier today before urging the PM to leave office
Former Communities Minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, who resigned earlier today before urging the PM to leave office, has told LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr that "the decision to resign was not an easy one".
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In an interview just hours after she quit the Government, the Labour Co-Op MP for Peckham also shared that she believes a leadership contest should "include Andy Burnham, because he's a great politician.”
Miatta told Andrew: "I can only speak for myself. The decision to resign was not an easy decision. It's a very personal decision, and for me, what drove it is that I was on the doorsteps for months.
"I had lots of conversations with people, and certainly, the story, the message I heard, loud and clear, is that my constituents had lost confidence and trust in the Prime Minister.
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"And actually, the big question in the context of huge challenges the country faces, where we have a mandate for change and a responsibility to deliver that mandate for change is: does the Prime Minister have the confidence of the country, and is he able to deliver the scale and the pace of change that is required?
"My constituents were clear. The answer to both of those questions was no.
"That's the view that I have taken. So, I am calling on him to set in place an orderly transition so that we can have a conversation about how we change the country, to whom has the perspective to do that at the scale that is required, and then rally around that person."
Asked if she has a preferred candidate she would like to see take over from Sir Keir, Miatta replied: "Look, ultimately, what I want is that we have an orderly process. It feels very chaotic. None of us want this. This is not what the Labour Party does.
"We need a proper process that has all of our talents. And yes, that does include Andy Burnham, because he's a great politician. He's one of our most popular politicians. He has a track record in Greater Manchester."
Shining light on another day of Downing Street chaos, Miatta also told Andrew that today's ministerial resignations have not been “coordinated".
She said: "There is no particular bloc” driving the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer.
Miatta, who was elected as an MP in 2024, said she does not believe the UK Government "has moved with the clarity, the conviction and the pace that's required against the challenge that is in the country."