POLITICIANS from the North have been reacting after Keir Starmer announced his resignation as British Prime Minister on Monday morning.
Speculation over the Labour leader's future had been mounting over the weekend.
On Monday, Starmer stated that the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party will lay out a timetable with nominations for the leadership opening on July 9 and completed by summer recess. A new party leader will be in place by September.
Starmer will remain in his role as Prime Minister until any Labour Party leadership contest has concluded.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the latest chaos at Westminster "underlines need to build something better".
“Today Keir Starmer has announced his intention to step down as British Prime Minister," she said. “His departure underscores the chaos of Westminster and how our future is better served by breaking our links with Britain.
“Successive British governments have cut our public services and weakened our economy, leaving ordinary people struggling to make ends meet while a small elite grows ever wealthier.
“I stand ready to work constructively with the incoming British Prime Minister, but I will be clear that a hugely different approach is needed.
“People here are not second-class citizens. They deserve proper and fair investment in our public services, real support through the cost of living crisis, and respect for our democratic right to decide our own future.”
People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: “Keir Starmer's premiership ends exactly as it was always destined to – in failure, with the far right ascendant.
“Starmer’s record has been disastrous. He was forced to U-turn after stripping winter fuel payments from pensioners in the middle of a cost-of-living catastrophe. He attempted to introduce punitive reforms to disability benefits. He rowed back on commitments to end fire and rehire and zero-hour contracts at the first whiff of pressure from the bosses. On Palestine, he offered nothing more than symbolic words and empty gestures, while British bases serviced the bombing of the Middle East and his government dragged Palestine Action through the courts as ‘terrorists’.”
Alliance leader Naomi Long said the next UK Prime Minister must enact reforms of the Assembly and Executive to prevent future collapses of power-sharing here.
“Sadly, having lost the confidence of both his party and the general public, his resignation has seemed inevitable for some time now," she added.
"Unfortunately, that has distracted focus from where it ought to be: helping people navigate the cost of living crisis, fixing problems left by years of Tory misrule, and enacting vital political and financial reforms to ensure the Assembly and Executive can deliver better.
“This government came to power promising change after over a decade of Conservative scandal, sleaze and instability. Instead, they have delivered more of the same, and the hope people had when they voted has all but been eroded.
“Whoever the Labour Party chooses must restore that hope and deliver better. Their government will need to prioritise the needs of ordinary people, the very people who were promised so much when Labour came to power."
