Resignation of Keir Starmer, Disorder in Belfast, Defence investment Plan, the War on the Gulf and a bit more….
Resignation of Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer resigned on Monday morning as Leader of the Labour Party, following Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election. In all likelihood, Andy will become Prime Minister by 17 July. What we saw in his speech from the steps of Downing Street on Monday was the dignity and decency that Keir has brought to being our Prime Minister. Keir brought the Labour Party back from the dead, got us into government and restored the UK’s reputation on the world stage. We all owe him our profound thanks for his service to our country.
Being in government is a privilege. It brings with it enormous responsibilities. We must use every single second that we have to change the country that we love for the better.
I would also like to add my congratulations to Andy Burnham on a magnificent by-election victory. It was a remarkable campaign.
Racist Disorder in Belfast
Following the appalling knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie in Belfast, we saw people being burned out of their homes by masked thugs because of the colour of their skin. We saw people using lists of houses in multiple occupation to target those who look different. We saw nurses and doctors having to show their health service passes to the same thugs in order to get to work. Last week I met hospital staff who were too frightened at the end of their shift to go home or who spent the night of the attacks discussing leaving the hospital in the boot of a car or under a coat on the back seat.
Those who were attacked are someone’s family, friends, work colleagues, and neighbours and, in Northern Ireland at the moment, they are terrified by what they have seen because they think that the thugs will come for them next.
This has been happening on the streets of the United Kingdom in 2026, and it is the third year in a row we have seen this in Northern Ireland. We are having to contend with a populist politics and a social media which far too often is about creating division, hatred and anger. It is our responsibility to stand by our principles and call it out for what it is – pure racist thuggery.
I have spent quite a bit of time in Belfast meeting those affected by what happened – the voluntary sector who did so much to help people on the night and the blue light services who tried to protect the public. Our responsibility is to support the Police in trying to catch those who did these things so they can be held to account. Thirty-four people have been arrested to date with twenty-four charged, and last week I was able to announce extra funding of £4m for the PSNI to help cover the cost of mutual aid that came in from the police services in Scotland, the Northeast and the Northwest to help deal with the disorder.
What we’ve witnessed does not in any way represent the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland or the wonderful place that it is. I spend a lot of my time encouraging people to come and invest in, or come on holiday to, Northern Ireland to see the wonders that it has to offer and meet the lovely people who will welcome them.
It’s not just in this part of the United Kingdom where these things are happening, and of course we must address the pressures that communities feel – housing, jobs, opportunity, hope – while at the same time being absolutely resolute that we will not yield an inch to those who would seek to divide us on the basis of how we look.
Defence Investment Plan
This has been much debated in recent months, and in particular since the resignation of John Healey as Defence Secretary. We are already presiding over the largest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, with £270 billion pledged in this Parliament, but given the rising threat we need to go further. The Prime Minister has promised that the plan, with funding, will be published in time for the NATO Summit in Ankara at the beginning of July.
The Gulf Conflict
A deal has now been signed between the USA and Iran, but the situation remains fragile. The aim is to get ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz so that oil and gas supplies can start flowing again. Even if things do move quickly, the impact on inflation is going to last until later on in the year and any further disruption will have serious consequences for the global economy.
Local, Political and Parliamentary Activity
- Campaigned in the Makerfield by-election
- Meeting with the Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee
- Meetings with all the Northern Ireland Party leaders
- Visit to Strandtown police station to meet officers involved in the disorder in Northern Ireland
- Meeting with various community organisations and blue light services in Belfast following the disorder
- Attended Sir Desmond Rea’s funeral in Belfast with the Prime Minister
- Addressed to the Parliamentary Labour Party
- Answered NI oral questions in the House of Commons
- Attended the Hunslet Gala and the Burmantofts Festival
- Visited Leeds College of Building
- Visited Wesley Street Church to look at the renovation project
- Meeting with local councillors and council officers to discuss the Pride in Place project in Middleton
- Attended the naming of a locomotive – Salamanca – at the Middleton Railway
- South Leeds Life Column