Streeting lays down challenge to replace Starmer while calling for Britain to rejoin EU - as Burnham outlines leadership plan

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Mr Streeting confirmed he will stand in any future Labour leadership contest to replace Sir Keir, in his first public appearance since resigning as health secretary on Thursday.

He called for a "proper contest" to replace the PM, as he and other senior Labour figures make their pitch to oust his former ally.

At a press conference in London on Saturday, Mr Streeting said: We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I’ll be standing."

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It comes as Andy Burnham claimed he was prepared to “fight to the highest level” if he is successful in contesting the Makerfield by-election, paving his way to a potential route to number 10.

The Prime Minister came under heavy pressure to step down this week following Labour's disastrous local election results.

Mr Streeting also insisted he did have enough support among MPs to trigger a contest, but suggested his challenge would "lack legitimacy" without rival Mr Burnham being given a chance to return to Parliament.

Speaking at the Progress think tank conference on Saturday, Mr Streeting added: "Firstly, I do have support in the parliamentary party, but this week I also had a choice.

“We could have rushed straight into a leadership contest, knowing not all of the candidates would be on the pitch, that Andy Burnham was about to stand in a by-election.

"If we had rushed ahead without giving Andy a chance to stand, the new leader, whether it was me or anyone else, would lack the legitimacy, and so we would end up extending instability and uncertainty.

“That might have been the self-interested thing to do for candidates who are in Parliament presently, but it wasn’t in the party’s interest and wasn’t in the national interest."

Speaking publicly for the first time since quitting Government, the former health secretary said: “The voters did more than send Labour a message last week, they issued a warning: that unless we change course, we risk being the handmaidens of Nigel Farage and the breakup of the United Kingdom.”

Moving closer to Europe was the first of three major policy ideas Mr Streeting floated, and he told the conference: "We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future lies with Europe – and one day back in the European Union.

He later hit out at Labour’s course over the last few years, telling the audience at the conference for the think tank Progress: "Corbyn’s leadership was marred by factionalism.

"The moral emergency of antisemitism in our party left little room for intellectual renewal or policy debate on the centre left.

Referencing the brewing contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer, he said: “That’s why we need a proper contest where all candidates can put their best foot forward."

Meanwhile for Mr Burnham, his path back to Parliament is far from straightforward with Reform promising to throw all of its resources into the campaign for the Makerfield by-election,

The mayor's path to becoming an MP opened up after sitting Labour MP Josh Simons resigned on Thursday.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Mr Burnham promised to vowed to take his fight to "the highest level" in a battle he claimed was a "campaign to change Labour".

He said: "I don't want, Reform this, Greens that. We want to listen to what people are saying.

"It’s then that big question. Do you want to just carry on as we are, or do you want a new path for Britain? And that path I've laid out is a very clear and a different one.

"I think it needs to be something of a circuit breaker for politics in this country."