Nabiha Ahmed
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters/BBC

While a potential Labour leadership contest still hasn't been triggered, the hunger among Keir Starmer's potential challengers to fill his prime ministerial shoes has never been clearer.

"I'll be standing," declared Wes Streeting today on any potential leadership contest within the Labour Party.

At today's conference, held by the Labour-aligned organisation Progress, the former health secretary said he has parliamentary backing to stand in a leadership race - but didn't answer if he had the crucial 81 names of Labour MPs willing to support him.

Meanwhile, over in Makerfield - where an imminent by-election awaits - Andy Burnham said today he wants to be Labour's candidate so he can "save" the party.

Now that he has permission to stand, the Greater Manchester mayor says he wants to be the MP of the constituency because of his personal "connection" to it.

We haven't heard from the prime minister today, but his message earlier in the week was clear: he isn't walking away, and is adamant on proving doubters wrong.

But as a shadow contest gets under way, it's hard to know if that will hold, writes the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.

We're pausing our live coverage for now but you can continue reading with our latest story.

Business secretary's speech gives a sense of how unusual the next few weeks will bepublished at 18:39 BST 16 May

18:39 BST 16 May

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

If you want a sense of just how unusual the next few weeks of politics will be, Peter Kyle’s speech is a good insight.

He is the business and trade secretary - a leading member of this government - and yet earlier today he gave a pretty thorough critique of its approach and priorities.

“Too often, in government, we have got in our own way: overthinking, overcautious, overplanning; too much consulting. Too little explaining.”

He added: "In politics, as in life, fortune favours the bold. Labour’s better fortunes rely on braver government."

That sounds like someone looking back on a time in office, not a serving government minister with three years until the next election must happen.

But it reveals quite a lot about Labour’s state of mind at the moment; a party in a post-mortem after a devastating set of elections.

And what of his friend, the former Health Secretary Wes Streeting who quit this week with a brutal criticism of the Prime Minister that Kyle serves?

"Wes is legendary,” Kyle said, “and a good, solid, courageous friend whose talent is much needed by this party".

Image source, Reuters

The former Communities Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, who was the first minister to resign from Keir Starmer's government after the elections, says she is "confident" the Labour Party can "step up to the challenge that the country has set us".

Speaking to the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast, she declines to say who she'd back, but says of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham: "I don't think you can have a leadership race without him in because... he commands so much support within the Labour movement."

She says she believes he would be a good prime minister, and says his track record in the city "suggests that you can have a vision, you can have a project, and you can execute it in the way that can lift your communities up". She says the way he does economics "could be translated to the national level".

Fahnbulleh describes former party leader, and current Energy Secretary Ed Miliband - who some MPs have discussed making a return -as "brilliant" and "someone that has always had really clear analysis of the political economy".

She describes former Deputy PM Angela Rayner, who may also throw her hat in the ring, as a "phenomenal politician" with "brilliant political instincts".

Asked who she believes could beat Reform UK,Fahnbulleh adds: "We need a politician that can set out a vision because, in the end, people are going to the extremes because they are just sick and tired of the status quo. You don't beat Nigel Farage with status quo politics, you beat Nigel Farage with disruption."

• Listen to the full podcast

Tara Mewawalla
Live reporter

Image source, BBC/Reuters

No leadership contest has officially been called, but the potential of a challenge for the prime minister seems to be looming closer.

Here's where each of the potential challengers currently stand:

Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting:

Announced this afternoon that he intends to stand in any potential Labour leadership contest and says "we need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field".

For anyone to launch a leadership contest they would need to have the support of 20% of the Parliamentary Labour Party - currently 81 MPs out of the 403 in Westminster. It is not clear whether Streeting has this level of support yet.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham:

Has not explicitly said that he hopes to launch a leadership contest.

But, he told the BBC today he will be running in the Makerfield by-election to "save" Labour. "We've got to see this as a moment to reclaim the Labour Party, to save it from where it's been. We can't just carry on as we are," he said.

In order for him to trigger a leadership contest, he would first need to be selected as the Labour candidate in Makerfield and win the by-election - expected to be held in June. Once back in Westminster, he would then need to also secure the backing of 81 MPs.

Image source, EPA/ Shutterstock

Former Deputy PM Angela Rayner:

It is widely believed that Rayner may also throw her hat in the ring - she announced on Thursday that she had resolved her tax affairs with HMRC, settling £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty related to a flat in Hove.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Rayner did not rule out running in any Labour leadership race but said she would not "trigger" a contest.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer:

If he did not step down, Sir Keir would automatically be on the ballot paper in any race and would not need to raise the same support as a challenger. This week, Starmer insisted that he would prove "doubters" wrong, and Downing Street has continued to insist that he would fight any effort to oust him.

Some Labour MPs have also discussed the former leader, and current Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband making a return. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has also been mentioned as a possible contender and Defence Minister and Royal Marine veteran Al Carns has long been seen as having leadership ambitions.

A speech from Streeting that's unashamedly a pitch for the leadershippublished at 17:26 BST 16 May

17:26 BST 16 May

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Having heard from both Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham, there is definitely a feeling that this is the start of Labour's leadership contest.

Even before Wes Streeting confirmed that he would be running, his speech was unashamedly a pitch for the leadership.

He criticised what had gone before under Keir Starmer and warned that Labour risked being the "handmaid" to Reform UK and the breakup of the United Kingdom.

Streeting also called for a new "special relationship", not with the United States but with the European Union, and drifted far away from Labour's 2024 manifesto promise not to rejoin the single market or the customs union, let alone the European Union itself.

There had been some people wondering whether Streeting had the numbers - or the bottle - for a leadership contest or if he would instead row in behind Andy Burnham, if the Great Manchester mayor stands and wins that by-election in Makerfield.

But there was no sign of that here.

Streeting was explicit that he would be running in a leadership contest and set out a striking vision for where he thinks he should take the party and the country.

Tara Mewawalla
Live reporter

A little earlier, we heard from former Health Secretary Wes Streeting - who confirmed he would stand to be Labour leader following his first public speech since resigning from Keir Starmer's cabinet on Thursday.

• As a reminder: No leadership challenge has been officially triggered as of now

Here's a quick recap of the main lines from Streeting:

• European Union: He said leaving the EU was a "catastrophic mistake" that has left the country "less wealthy, less powerful and less in control". He called for "a new special relationship" with the union and for the UK to be "one day" back in the bloc
• Last week's elections: Labour's performance at the May elections - marked by sweeping Labour losses in Welsh and Scottish parliamentary elections, and English local elections - was "unprecedented" and a "warning" from voters, Streeting said
• Reform UK: He warned that Labour risks becoming "handmaidens" to Nigel Farage in the next general election, adding that for the "first time in history", Labour's biggest opponent is Reform UK - not the Conservative Party
• Labour leader: A potential leadership contest should be a "battle of ideas, not personalities", the former health secretary said
• Party support: Asked whether he has the backing of enough Labour MPs to challenge Starmer - he would need 81 to launch a leadership contest - Streeting didn't explicitly say but replied: "I do have support in the parliamentary party"
• Andy Burnham: On the Greater Manchester mayor, who yesterday was cleared to stand for selection as a candidate for the Makerfield by-election, Streeting said he's "not going to talk down people in the party who are my friends and colleagues", adding that Burnham "has great strengths"

By the BBC's Visual Journalism team

In the past 48 hours, Makerfield has been thrust into the spotlight. It could become a key part of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham's route back into Parliament.

The constituency's MP, Josh Simons, announced on Thursday he would be standing down to make way for Burnham - which has triggered a by-election.

More than 100,000 people live in the constituency in north-west England, which includes suburbs south of Wigan and the town of Ashton-in-Makerfield.

But what do we know about the region, and the people who will be voting in the by-election? We've taken a look in the graphic below:

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

More from Andy Burnham's comments to the BBC:

"I think Britain has been on the wrong path for 40 years, it started de-industrialisation, de-regulation of the buses, privatisation of life's essentials."

"We need to fix politics, to fix the economy, get the basics back under public control so that people can afford their rent, energy bills, etc."

Asked whether the election was a personal vanity project and whether voters would be annoyed at yet another election, Burnham said: "I think this is a very necessary election, it's about fixing politics because it's not been working for people."

He told canvassers in Makerfield to acknowledge that "the party's not been good enough". He called for "re-industrialisation of the Wigan borough and the north-west", and to "build council homes on a scale similar to the post war period".

"I'm going to put everything into it," he said. "We've got to see this as a moment to reclaim the Labour party to save it from where it's been we can't just carry on as we are."

"We're going to change the conversation in this campaign. We're going to get Labour closer to these communities again."

"Labour needs to be better, to change and be once again the party that people in this borough knew that they voted for many years.

Burnham has been canvassing in the constituency this afternoon in the by election, which sources have told the BBC are likely to be held on 18 June.

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

We're turning away from Wes Streeting for the moment to bring you some fresh comments from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham:

Andy Burnham tells the BBC he's running in the Makerfield by-election to "save" Labour.

As a reminder, the Greater Manchester mayor was yesterday given the go-ahead to run for the Labour nomination, potentially clearing the way for his return to Westminster.

He says Labour has to acknowledge it has "not been good enough", adding it "requires a lot of change".

"We've got to see this as a moment to reclaim the Labour Party, to save it from where it's been. We can't just carry on as we are."

Burnham adds: "I want Labour solidly to be the party of working class people and working class communities and that requires a lot of change."

We'll bring you more comments from his shortly.

Asked what will happen if Labour doesn't win Makerfield, Streeting says "we've got to be in it to win it" there.

He says he knows "there will be a difference of opinion" about whether it was right for Josh Simons to stand down because it's "a hell of a risk", but "if anyone can win that by-election, Andy Burnham can".

Streeting adds he's "not going to speculate" on Starmer's future, but says that "whatever the disagreements that I have" with him, he "has many remarkable qualities" and is "someone of enormous decency".

"Whatever the coming weeks and months hold, we should never forget that at the last General Election [Starmer] led us to a victory that in 2019 people thought was impossible."

The Q&A session has now concluded. We'll bring you a summary of the top lines from Streeting's speech shortly.

Image source, Reuters

"Some very principled and brave ministers resigned this week from government because the private messages that are being conveyed to the prime minister about the loss of confidence are not being heeded," Streeting says.

"Not all of them support me, but I pay tribute to all of them."

Streeting adds he has "another choice" this week: whether he should "pull more ministers out of the government and cause more disruption" or "do this in the right way" by asking the prime minister to "set out a proper leadership timetable".

He says this would "give his ministers the freedom to nominate whoever they want to see as a leader of our party and the prime minister of our country".

He adds: "That's what I think he should still do."

Asked what he would say to voters thinking about backing Andy Burnham, Streeting says "vote for him, in Makerfield especially".

• As a reminder, Burnham has been cleared to stand in the ongoing selection process for the Labour candidate for the Makerfield by-election, which sources tell the BBC is likely to be held on 18 June

He says he's "not going to talk down people in the party who are my friends and colleagues, I think Andy Burnham has great strengths".

Burnham has been "a strong mayor" in Greater Manchester, he adds, and says he doesn't "want to create another enormous gap between Labour office holders".

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas asks if Streeting has the backing of 81 Labour MPs to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

• For context: Anyone seeking to contest the leadership requires the support of 20% of the Labour Parliamentary Party - that is 81 MPs out of the 403 currently in Westminster

He does not explicitly say whether or not he has the number of nominations needed.

"I do have support in the parliamentary party, but this week I also had a choice," Streeting says.

He says that the party could have "rushed into a leadership contest", and that doing so "without giving Andy the chance to stand" would mean the new leader would "lack the legitimacy", which would end up "extendiing the instability and uncertainty".

Streeting says if a candidate thinks they are "good enough" for "the top job" then they should be "prepared" to "test" their ideas against competitors.

Streeting confirms he will stand to be leader of the Labour Party.

Answering questions following his speech, he says: "We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field and I'll be standing."

• As a reminder: No leadership challenge has been officially triggered as of now

Streeting outlines "our three big important choices" Britain must make to help it "regain our sense of progress".

He says that leaving the European Union was "a catastrophic mistake", to a round of applause.

The former health secretary says it's left the country "less wealthy, less powerful and less in control than at any point before the Industrial Revolution. We can no longer afford to be silent about it."

Streeting then calls for "a new special relationship with the EU" and for the UK to be "one day" back in the union, adding that the country's future "lies with Europe".

Image source, PA Media

Streeting says voters in last week's election "issued a warning", Streeting says.

"Never again must we allow a tyranny of silence in the name of party unity to send us on to avoidable defeat," he says, adding that this is why he has called "for a battle of ideas, not personalities".

He says Labour arrived in government "underprepared", which led to the "early catastrophe" of the winter fuel cut.

For the "first time in history", Labour's biggest opponent is Reform UK and Nigel Farage, not the Conservative Party, he adds.

Streeting says that "unless we change course", Labour stand to lose a General Election to Nigel Farage - becoming "handmaidens" to the Reform UK leader "and the breakup of the United Kingdom".

"Imagine the consequences," he says.

Streeting begins by quoting a banner at the National Union of Mine Workers' headquarters in Barnsley: "The past we inherit, the future we build".

He says it conveys a message of "hope" and the "power of collective action" created by Labour.

He says that "Barnsley went Reform" in the local elections last week - three words that should "strike fear into the hearts of every member of the Labour Party".

Streeting says last week's election performance was "unprecedented" in terms of the "scale of the defeat" and its "consequences".

The nationalism of Reform UK, says Streeting, represents threat to the values of the country.

Image source, PA Media

We're now hearing from former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is speaking at a conference hosted by Labour-aligned political organisation Progress.

It is the first time that Streeting, widely seen as a potential challenger for Labour leadership, speaks publicly since resigning from Keir Starmer's top team on Thursday.

He is the first and only cabinet minister to have stepped down as of now, after stating he had lost confidence in the prime minister.

You can watch his address by clicking watch live at the top of this page. We'll also be providing the latest updates and analysis right here.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Progress, a Labour-aligned organisation founded in 1996 to support Tony Blair's New Labour movement, is holding a conference in London today. It's the biggest gathering of Labour MPs and activists since last week's local elections.

The mood at this conference is slightly dazed, coming after this week in which we've seen the prime minister's authority over his party unravel in quite spectacular fashion.

This is a conference for those on the right of the Labour Party - what we used to call the Blairite wing - and many of the people here are the ones who propelled Keir Starmer to power and, until recently at least, were loyal to him.

The question on many lips here is will this wing of the party unite behind an Andy Burnham leadership bid, if he stands and wins in Makerfield and launches one, or will there be a protracted leadership contest between him and Wes Streeting or others?

Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting is due to speak at the contest in a matter of minutes.

It will be the first time we've heard from his since his resignation, and it’ll be interesting to see if he sets out an alternative vision for Labour’s future direction.

Image source, Getty Images

As the candidate selection process for the Makerfield by-election is underway, Andy Burnham says he wants represent the constituency because of the "connection" he has to it.

"I wouldn’t have just gone anywhere like a carpet bagger, you know, any old constituency," he tells Channel 4 News.

"I live literally on the edge of this constituency. My kids went to school a few hundred yards down the road. I know people here, I know how they think, how they feel."

Burnham says he was "very deliberate" about his choice to run for Parliament. He says that he and Josh Simmons - who gave up the north-west England seat so Burnham could run - felt the same "frustration" of the national system, and that "a big change moment is needed".

He says Westminster "just does not have answers" for communities like Makerfield.