Wes Streeting says he will run in any leadership race - and calls for UK to rejoin EU

Wes Streeting has confirmed he will stand in any Labour leadership race to replace Sir Keir Starmer - and said the UK should seek to rejoin the European Union.

Asked by Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig whether he would stand, Mr Streeting replied: "We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I'll be standing."

Mr Streeting said he did not want to force an immediate contest, as it "wasn't in the party's interest [or the] national interest" to have one before Andy Burnham has had the chance to return to parliament.

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The former health secretary said going ahead with an immediate battle would mean "the new leader, whether it was me or anyone else, would lack the legitimacy and so we would end up extending instability and uncertainty".

"If you think you're good enough to do the top job, if you think you've got the right ideas for the country, you should be prepared to put them forward, test them against other competitors, and win an election," he said.

The Ilford North MP was speaking at a conference of the Progress group of Labour supporters, who ​view themselves as being on the modernising wing of the party.

At the meeting, Mr Streeting described Britain's 2016 referendum decision to ​leave the European Union as "a catastrophic mistake" that ⁠had made the country its ⁠weakest since before the Industrial Revolution.

And he said the UK should seek to rejoin the bloc.

"We ‌need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain's future lies with Europe, and one day - one day - ‌back in the European Union," he said.

Mr Streeting repeated his call for Sir Keir to "set out a proper leadership timetable", and to "give his ministers the freedom to nominate whoever they want to see as leader of our party and the prime minister of our country".

The prime minister has rejected calls to step down after his party suffered ⁠heavy defeats in local and devolved elections last ​week.

Meanwhile, Mr Burnham has been allowed to stand in the selection process for the upcoming Makerfield by-election - which could give him a route back to parliament and eventually possibly the keys to No 10.

The Greater Manchester mayor wants to be the party's candidate in Makerfield, although is yet to be officially selected, and said he is seeking to "save" Labour.

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Makerfield's current MP, former minister Josh Simons, is standing down specifically to try to give Mr Burnham the chance to return to the Commons.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Burnham said the by-election is a "moment to reclaim the Labour Party, to save it from where it's been".

"You know we can't just carry on as we are. We're going to change the conversation in this campaign. We're going to get Labour closer to these communities again."

Mr Burnham also said Labour "needs to be better" and that politics has "not been working for people".

On Friday evening, the mayor was granted permission to run by Labour's ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC).

If Mr Burnham is successfully elected in Makerfield, he is widely expected to challenge Sir Keir for the party leadership.

While the constituency is typically a safe seat for Labour, the party expects a strong challenge from Reform UK this time around.

Mr Streeting quit as health secretary on Thursday and wrote a stinging resignation letter to the prime minister.

No formal leadership challenge has yet been triggered.

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