Labour MPs across the area have paid tribute to Sir Keir Starmer following his resignation — with one already backing Andy Burnham to replace him.
Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock, a government minister and the son of former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock, was quick to throw his weight behind the frontrunner.
He said Sir Keir had pulled Labour “back from the brink” to win the 2024 landslide, and had been “a committed and dignified Prime Minister, always putting country before party”.
Kinnock said he was proud of what the government had achieved, pointing to progress on GP access, a fall in small boat crossings, and better pay and conditions for workers.
But he said the country now needed “a fresh start with a Prime Minister who can inspire public confidence”.
He added: “I believe Andy Burnham has these qualities — and I am excited by the prospect of the positive change his leadership is set to bring.”
Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, confirmed earlier on Monday that he would put himself forward to succeed Sir Keir, and is widely seen as the frontrunner.
Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi also paid tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister, though she stopped short of naming a preferred successor.
She said Sir Keir had “served our nation with devotion and dignity”, and that she wanted to thank him for his leadership.
“This will not have been an easy decision, but I respect it and support it in the interests of our country,” she said.
Antoniazzi said it was important that the party now came together and continued “to focus on delivering tangible change for the people who we were elected to serve”.
In neighbouring Pembrokeshire, Mid and South Pembrokeshire MP Henry Tufnell also thanked Sir Keir, saying he had helped to make Britain “fairer, safer, and more prosperous over the past two years”.
Tufnell said his own focus remained on his constituents, with priorities “unchanged” — bringing jobs and growth to Pembrokeshire, improving public services, and tackling the cost-of-living crisis.
Bridgend and Porthcawl MP Chris Elmore, who also served in Sir Keir’s government, said that without his leadership “the Labour Party would not be in Government”. He said Sir Keir had taken the party “from our worst defeat in decades to one of the biggest majorities in our movement’s history” in the space of five years.
Elmore pointed to stronger employment rights, children lifted out of poverty and the railways being brought back under public control, and said that for Sir Keir it had “always been country first, party second”.
Swansea West MP Torsten Bell, also a government minister, said Sir Keir had “turned around our party” and given “huge service to our country”, both as Prime Minister and as a former public prosecutor. He pointed to stronger workers’ rights, rising wages and falling waiting lists, adding that the party now owed the country “a redoubling of our efforts to build a better Britain”.
Several other Labour MPs in the area had not commented publicly by Monday afternoon, among them Llanelli’s Dame Nia Griffith and Swansea East’s Carolyn Harris.
Sir Keir announced on Monday morning that he would step down as Prime Minister and Labour leader, having “heard the answer” of his party on whether he was the right person to lead it into the next election.
He will remain in post until a new leader is chosen, with nominations opening on 9 July and a successor expected before Parliament returns on 1 September.
The resignation follows months of pressure that intensified after Labour’s heavy losses in May’s elections, and after Burnham’s by-election victory in Makerfield last week.
It comes as Wales adjusts to its own changed political landscape, with Labour having lost power in the Senedd in May for the first time since devolution.
For the area’s Labour MPs, the coming weeks will shape not just who leads their party — but the direction of a UK government many of them serve in.
