Transport Secretary Tells Starmer to Say When He'll Step Down
Transport Secretary Tells Starmer to Say When He'll Step Down
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has told Prime Minister Keir Starmer he should announce when he plans to leave office. According to BBC News, she made this statement publicly on 19 June 2026 — the first time a senior Cabinet minister has said this openly.
This announcement comes after months of unhappiness among Labour MPs. In May, The Guardian reported that more than 60 Labour MPs had called on Starmer to resign or set a departure date. The BBC counted 72 MPs saying the same thing around the same time. Other Cabinet ministers had already been pushing him to quit — but they had done so quietly, behind the scenes.
Why Alexander's move matters
Normally, Cabinet ministers are expected to stay silent about disagreeing with the Prime Minister. If they want to oppose him publicly, the tradition is that they resign first. Alexander's decision to speak out loud breaks this rule. The Guardian reported that Starmer's allies told him he had until the end of the weekend to produce a plan to leave — not a demand that he fight on, but a deadline to arrange his exit in an orderly way.
Where Starmer stands
Starmer became Prime Minister on 5 July 2024, after Labour won the general election. He has been in the job for less than two years. The May local election losses sparked calls from MPs for him to go, but so far no one has formally challenged him for the leadership, and no rival has stepped forward publicly.
It is worth noting what Starmer's supporters point to. In March 2025, the Prime Minister announced what the government called the largest rail investment in the North in decades. He said "the North will no longer be held to ransom by a broken transport system." That announcement was meant to show the government was getting things done. But it does not seem to have changed public opinion enough for his supporters to feel confident.
What happens next
The question now is whether Starmer will say when he plans to leave — or whether he will try to carry on as if nothing has happened. When a Prime Minister stays silent after a Cabinet minister speaks publicly against him, others usually fill that silence with more complaints.
Alexander runs the Transport Department. That matters because transport — particularly rail reform and the new rail programme for the North — is one of the things the government is most proud of. If relations between Starmer and Alexander break down, it could affect those plans.
If a Labour leadership contest does happen, the party's rules say candidates need support from a certain number of MPs and MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) to stand. The fact that 72 MPs have already said they want a change of leadership suggests that any serious challenger could easily get enough nominations to run.
For now, Downing Street's official line is that Starmer will carry on. Whether that changes over the coming days is what observers are watching closely.
