Former British Labour Party leader confirms his intention to run for the party's leadership.

(London, general news) The recently resigned British Health Secretary Strittin announced that if the Labour Party holds a leadership election, he will participate in the contest. He is the first member of parliament to publicly confirm his intention to run for the leadership of the Labour Party.

Wes Streeting said on Saturday (May 16th) at a meeting hosted by a pro-Labour political organization: "We (the Labour Party) need a genuine election campaign, involving the best candidates, and I will run for it."

He said that the recent crushing defeat of the Labour Party in local elections was unprecedented. Progressive individuals are increasingly losing faith that the Labour Party can meet the challenges. He reiterated that what the Labour Party needs is a contest of ideas, rather than a contest of individuals.

He also said that Britain's departure from the EU was a "catastrophic mistake", and that Brexit has led to the UK currently having less wealth, power and control than at any time before the Industrial Revolution. He claimed that the future of the UK belongs to Europe and that it should rejoin the EU one day.

After the Labour Party suffered a crushing defeat in the local elections, Stammer found himself in a leadership crisis. According to the BBC, currently over 90 Labour Party members have called for Stammer to resign, but there are also over 150 members who support him or believe that it is not the right time to hold a party leader election at present.

The Labour Party stipulates that an incumbent member of parliament must obtain the support of at least 20% of the Labour Party members in order to initiate the process of challenging the party leader.

Stritton stated that he would not immediately launch a challenge for the party leader position. This is because a leadership election would be held before the return of the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to the parliament. "This is not in the interests of the Labour Party or the country," he said. He added that if a leadership election were held hastily, the new leader might lack sufficient legitimacy, thereby prolonging instability and uncertainty.

Stritton once again urged Stammer to establish "an appropriate timetable for leadership transition" and to allow cabinet ministers to freely nominate new Labour Party leaders and prime ministers.

Burnham told the BBC that he was seeking to run in the by-election for the Makerfield constituency in order to "save" the Labour Party.

He said that this election must be an opportunity for the Labour Party to recover and get out of its current predicament. It is widely expected that if Burnham wins the by-election and returns to the parliament, he will attempt to challenge the position of the Labour Party leader, Prime Minister Stammer.