James Murray is appointed as health secretary after Wes Streeting’s resignation – live updates

It’s been another hectic day inside the Westminster bubble as a growing psychodrama continues to engulf the Labour party.

• Wes Streeting resigned as Health Secretary, criticising the ‘drift’ at the top of Government and told the Prime Minister it is ‘clear’ he will not lead Labour into the next election. But he refused to announce a leadership charge
• Meanwhile, Angela Rayner said HMRC cleared her of wrongdoing over her tax affairs – amid reports she will either join Andy Burnham’s push for the Labour throne or mount her own challenge
• Starmer loyalist Rachel Reeves urged MPs to not threaten the ‘economic stability’ of the UK by ‘plunging the country into chaos’
• Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson rather optimistically tried to set the political agenda this afternoon, claiming Streeting’s resignation marked a chance for Labour to ‘draw a line’ under leadership debate
• This was proved to be rather fanciful just two hours later as Josh Simons – the MP for Makerfield in Wigan – announced he will be standing to make way for Andy Burnham to swoop in and gain a seat in the House of Commons
• Right on cue, Andy Burnham then confirmed he will be requesting the permission of Labour’s NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election.

After a period of eerie detente, the Labour Cold War has well and truly warmed up.

Keir Starmer will not block Andy Burnham from running as the Labour candidate in Makerfield, it is understood.

It comes after Mr Burnham was barred from running in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year by Labour’s National Executive Committee.

An ally of the PM told the BBC:

Keir is focused on bringing the party together so it can tackle the issues facing working families.

Wes Streeting has quit as Health Secretary, paving the way for a potential leadership challenge against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

In his resignation letter, Mr Streeting criticised the ‘drift’ at the top of Government and told the Prime Minister it is ‘clear’ he will not lead Labour into the next election.

Mr Streeting’s resignation follows days of turmoil in which calls have mounted for the Prime Minister to step down in the wake of Labour’s election mauling last week.

Amid the ongoing Labour chaos, another Green Party story has slipped under the radar – days after Zack Polanski admitted making a ‘mistake’ over his houseboat council tax.

The party leader has accepted this afternoon that he did not vote in last week’s local elections, having previously claimed he submitted a postal vote for his Hackney ward.

He also said he would be voting for the Greens’ mayoral candidate in the borough, Zoë Garbett, who ended up winning the contest without Polanski putting a cross next to her name.

A spokesman for the party suggested the leader had not registered to vote over ‘fears for his safety’, The Times reports.

James Murray has in the last few moments been appointed as the new Health Secretary.

He replaces Wes Streeting who stood down today over Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.

The MP for Ealing North has previously served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and is a Starmer loyalist.

He is replaced in his Treasury position by Lucy Rigby.

The Liberal Democrats have come out strongly in response to the news that Josh Simons has vacated his seat to make way for Andy Burnham.

They accused Labour of demonstrating ‘contempt’ for the people of Makerfield.

Lisa Smart, spokesperson for the Lib Dem Cabinet Office, said: ‘The arrogance of these men is staggering. To believe that representing a community is a gift to be handed to your mate shows utterly, out-of-touch contempt.

‘Labour’s internal psychodrama has triggered this by-election so they should pay for the consequences — all £5 million pounds’ worth of the mayoral election.’

The Prime Minister has faced more calls to stand down, this time from his namesake Keir Mather, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport.

The minister – at 28, the youngest since William Gladstone – also backed Andy Burnham to fight a leadership contest.

He said: ‘Andy Burnham should be allowed to stand for selection in Makerfield. Local members know best who should take on Reform, and they should be able to make that choice.’

Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander argued that the NEC was right to block Andy Burnham from running in Gorton and Denton earlier this year, but claimed the circumstances had now changed.

He told Sky News:

So at the time that that decision was taken a few months back, I said it was about the moment and not the man.

The NEC is charged with reaching a decision as to what’s in the overall interests of the Labour Party. That was the decision that the NEC officers reached a few months back.

The Commons has been a cauldron of grief, anger and fear for Labour MPs in recent days.

And in that context, Number Ten has indicated that they certainly wouldn’t endeavour to block Andy coming in.

Andy Burnham needs to make clear if he will be break away from ‘terrible orthodoxies’ of the past or be ‘more of the same’, Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said.

Responding to the announcement that the Greater Manchester mayor plans to stand in a by-election in a bid to return to Parliament and challenge Sir Keir Starmer, the Green leader said: ‘Last week’s elections shows the country is crying out for a break from the failed status quo.

‘Keir Starmer has been unable and unwilling to break with an economic model that has fuelled the affordability crisis, and this is why we have said he must go.

‘Whatever happens in the coming by-election, Andy Burnham will need to make clear which version of him is going to show up.

‘Is it the politician who has been part and parcel of the Labour establishment for decades, abstaining on legislation making brutal cuts to welfare, PFI and other Labour privatisations, or is it the one who has publicly supported proportional representation, been a popular mayor in Manchester and expressed support to make changes to the failed economic model?

‘The country needs to know if Andy Burnham is serious about breaking out from the terrible orthodoxies from the past, or if he will just be more of the same.’

Wes Streeting today sparked allegations of a deal to support Andy Burnham‘s ambition to be prime minister after he quit the Cabinet and called for Keir Starmer to resign, but failed to launch his own leadership campaign.

Mr Streeting resigned as health secretary and declared he had ‘lost confidence’ in Sir Keir.

‘It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election‘, he wrote. ‘Where we need vision, we have a vacuum.’

But his lengthy departure letter to the PM made no mention of running to replace him, after allies in recent days demanded a ‘swift’ election period – seen as being more helpful to his ambitions than Mr Burnham’s.

Read the full story below:

Andy Burnham, the current Mayor of Greater Manchester, posted on X this afternoon:

I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election.

I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics.

Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours.

I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic.

Over the last decade, I have been challenging this failure from the outside and building a new and better way of doing politics.

We have built Greater Manchester into the fastest-growing city-region in the UK and put buses back under public control, introducing a £2 fare cap to help people with cost-of-living pressures.

However, there is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again.

This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people.

Millions are struggling and they need the Labour Government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years. After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the Prime Minister and the Government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place.

I want to recognise the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making. I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been.

He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that.

Finally, I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times. We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again.

More from Andy Burnham, whose statement demonstrating his intention to run for the Makerfield seat also provides an explanation as to why he stood down as an MP in the first place.

He said:

Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours.

I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic.