Pressure is mounting on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after two junior ministers resigned from government in protest over his leadership.
Alex Davies-Jones, a junior minister in the justice department, announced her resignation on Tuesday, saying she believed the government needed to do more to deliver meaningful change.
“We have needed to do more and therefore it is with a very heavy heart that I feel I have no choice but to resign,” Davies-Jones said in a resignation letter addressed to Starmer and posted on X.
Earlier on Tuesday, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips also stepped down, delivering a sharp critique of Starmer’s leadership amid growing unrest within the governing Labour Party.
Phillips said the government had failed to make sufficient progress and accused the leadership of avoiding difficult political battles.
“The desire not to have an argument means we rarely make an argument, leaving opportunities for progress stalled and delayed,” she wrote in a resignation letter first reported by Sky News.
“I want a Labour government to work, but I’m not seeing the change I think I, and the country, expect, and so cannot continue to serve as a minister under the current leadership,” she added.
The resignations come after Labour’s disappointing performance in last week’s local elections and growing calls within the party for Starmer to outline a timeline for his departure.
More than 80 Labour lawmakers have reportedly publicly urged the Prime Minister to clarify his future leadership plans, intensifying pressure on his administration.