Keir Starmer has announced he will resign as prime minister and leader of the Labour Party.
– Starmer says the question his party is asking is whether he is best placed to lead it into the next general election.
– He says he has “heard the answer” of his party to that question and “accepts that answer with good grace”.
– Every decision he says he has taken has been about “putting the country I love first”.
– “I will resign as leader of the Labour Party,” he says.
– Starmer says he spoke to the King this morning to inform him of his decision to resign.
– He has asked the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to set out a timetable with nominations opening for the leadership on 9 July, and completed by the summer recess.
– This will mean a new leader is in place before parliament returns in September.
– Until then he will remain in post as prime minister, he says.
– Keir Starmer says he will do everything he can to ensure an orderly handover of power, and will give his successor his full support.
– They know, he continues, that they are inheriting a Britain that is stronger and fairer than two years ago.
– Starmer then thanks his friends and colleagues who have been by his side for six years, as well as the No 10 staff and the “extraordinary civil service”.