Wes Streeting leaves No 10 after planned talks with Keir Starmer - UK politics live

A number of the health secretary’s allies called for the prime minister’s resignation but Streeting has yet to call for a formal leadership challenge Report: Starmer given a lifeline after Streeting challenge fails to materialise Good morning. There are two main events in the diary today. At this point, it is not entirely clear which will turn out to be more consequential. At 11.15am the king will arrive at parliament for the state opening. The king’s speech sets out the legislative programme fo
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Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
An odd dispute of interpretation has emerged overnight between the Scottish and UK governments. Yesterday evening a Scottish government spokesperson announced that, during a call between first minister John Swinney and prime minister Kier Starmer, both parties agreed to meet face to face next month to discuss a referendum on independence.
It is particularly welcome that the prime minister agreed to meet next month to discuss a referendum on independence.
The PM committed to meeting to discussed shared issues including the cost of living.
As the PM told the first minister, the manifesto this government was elected on was unambiguous that ‘Labour does not support independence or another referendum’. Our position remains unchanged.
We, in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, had a devastating set of election results and we were simply unable to articulate our offering, or indeed critique, of the SNP government because of the noise created at the centre.
Therefore, we became, and the prime minister became, the inadvertent midwife of a fifth-term SNP government. And that scenario you saw then, people waiting for a speech to try and articulate his new direction, a strategy, and it simply was not forthcoming.
This is not one faction of the Labour party. This is about the Labour party articulating, I think, now a commonly held view that this is unsustainable and unstable.
Coverage from 10 sources
- Wes Streeting leaves No 10 after planned talks with Keir Starmer - UK politics liveGuardian - World · Andrew Sparrow · May 13, 2026, 7:41 AM
- Wes Streeting leaves No 10 after planned talks with Keir Starmer last just 16 minutes - UK politics liveGuardian - World · Andrew Sparrow · May 13, 2026, 8:02 AM
- Wes Streeting leaves No 10 after planned talks with Keir Starmer last less than 20 minutes - UK politics liveGuardian - World · Andrew Sparrow · May 13, 2026, 9:22 AM
- Starmer heads to parliament for king’s speech after less than 20 minute meeting with Streeting in No 10 – UK politics live
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