Labour MP Steps Down So Andy Burnham Can Challenge Starmer

The Labour MP stepping down to let Andy Burnham challenge the prime minister said it was too big an opportunity to miss.

On Thursday, Simons announced her intention to give up her seat in the Commons, allowing the Greater Manchester mayor to stand as a parliamentary candidate. The 32-year-old mother of three, an MP for just two years, called it the most difficult decision of her life.

Simons said: "It was a decision I took with my wife. We decided as a family. We've been speaking about this for a few days. It's been incredibly fast, if I'm honest."

She added: "We were heading for a leadership election with the Labour Party split into different factions, and there was no hope, no energy that anything would change."

Simons said Makerfield was where Andy Burnham has lived for 25 years and that he was coming home.

Her decision came as Labour MPs called for Sir Keir Starmer to set a timetable to quit following the party's poor showing in local elections last week and rising backbench discontent with his leadership.

On Thursday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from the government, signaling future plans to challenge Starmer. On the same day, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said an investigation into her tax affairs by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs had ended.

Burnham, Greater Manchester metro mayor since 2017, needs to be an MP again to lead the party.

"Sometimes in history, when people take risks and they say, 'I think this is the right fight to have, but I don't know if we're going to win it', that's what changes the story. That's what changes the course of things," he said.

Burnham added there was talk he was running for mayor of Manchester, but he was not. He planned to spend time with his three-week-old son, wife and three other children after the whirlwind events.