Keir Starmer Expected to Quit as UK Prime Minister on Monday

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to announce on Monday that he will resign from his job. Members of his own Labour Party have been pushing him hard to step down and make way for a new leader. The pressure grew after a politician named Andy Burnham won a big election last Thursday in a district called Makerfield. Starmer has only been prime minister for two years, but many in his party now feel it is time for a change.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle spoke on Sunday morning on Sky News about the situation. He said Starmer was spending the weekend 'making time to reflect on the political realities' he faces. Kyle said he did not know exactly what Starmer would decide, but he did not deny that a change at the top was coming soon. He also said Starmer had been talking with 'a wide, wide range of people' and was working hard over the weekend.

Andy Burnham is currently the mayor of Greater Manchester. He won the Makerfield by-election — a special vote held to fill an empty seat in Parliament — by more than 9,000 votes. He also won more than half of all the votes cast. After that win, Burnham's team believed that around 200 Labour Members of Parliament, or MPs, were ready to support him becoming the next party leader.

That number of supporters has grown even more since Thursday. Burnham's allies became more and more confident that he could take over as Labour leader — and therefore become prime minister — without even needing a contest. They believed Starmer would agree to leave on a fairly quick schedule. On Friday, ministers who had previously backed Starmer told him he needed to decide on a leaving timetable by Sunday night, or risk being pushed out at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Another politician, Wes Streeting, also wants to become Labour leader. Streeting, who used to be the health secretary, quit his job last week because he was frustrated with Starmer's leadership. He says he has enough support from MPs to run. However, allies of both Starmer and Burnham are doubtful that Streeting can win, especially if more MPs decide to support the frontrunner Burnham instead.

If Starmer leaves, the United Kingdom will have had seven different prime ministers in just ten years. That is a remarkable number for a country known for stable government. Starmer led Labour to a huge victory in the general election just two years ago, winning by 174 seats. But since then, his time in office has been troubled by unpopular decisions and policy reversals.

Some of those unpopular decisions include cutting winter fuel payments for older people and choosing Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the United States. Labour has fallen sharply in opinion polls. A rival party called Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has been ahead in national polls for more than 300 weeks in a row. Many Labour MPs now worry that if Starmer stays, Farage could become the next prime minister.