Wes Streeting confirmed today that he would be challenging Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership and vowed that the UK would rejoin the EU 'one day' as Brexit was 'a catastrophic mistake'. In his first public comments since he resigned as Health Secretary on Thursday when he criticised Sir Keir's premiership as being a 'vacuum' without 'vision', the former Health Secretary said the Labour Party needed a 'proper leadership contest'. 'We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field and I will be standing,' he confirmed this afternoon at a conference of right-wing Labour supporters in London. He also said it was right that Andy Burnham should also be allowed the chance to stand as Labour leader, calling on the people of Makerfield to vote for him in the forthcoming by-election when he is likely to be Labour's official candidate. The comments came as Burnham tonight ramped up speculation over his own leadership ambitions in a high-profile interview in which he promised a 'new path for Britain' and suggested the country needed 'a very different approach'. The Greater Manchester Mayor, who recently confirmed plans to return to Westminster by standing in Makerfield, also outlined plans for stronger public control of essentials such as energy and water and called for a major council house building programme. He also launched an attack on Nigel Farage and Reform UK, comparing their politics to the damage caused by Margaret Thatcher, while vowing to take his fight for ordinary people 'as high as I can'. Streeting called on the Prime Minister to do the 'right and responsible thing by his party and his country' for the future of Labour and the country urging him to set out a proper timetable for a leadership challenge and avoid the 'chaos' of more ministers resigning. Wes Streeting announced on Saturday that he will stand for the Labour leadership Pictured: Mr Streeting delivers a speech at the Progress annual conference 2026 in London on May 16He also refuted claims he had not launched an immediate leadership challenge because he did not have enough support saying he had support in the parliamentary party but had chosen to delay his challenge 'because not all of the candidates were on the pitch'.'If we had rushed ahead without giving Andy a chance to stand, the new leader whether it is me or anyone else would lack the legitimacy and so we would end up extending instability and uncertainty. 'That might have been the self interested thing to do for candidates who are in Parliament presently but it wasn't in the party's interests and it wasn't in the national interests. 'If you are good enough to do the top job and you think you have the right ideas for the country you should be prepared to put them forward and test them against a competitor's and win an election and that was the choice I made.'Mr Streeting said he chose not to cause 'more disruption' when the 'private messages conveyed to the Prime Minister were not heeded' and encourage more ministers to leave after some 'very principled and brave ministers resigned from government, not all of whom support me'.Speaking at the 2026 conference of Blairite thinktank Progress, he said the choice was: 'Do I pull more out or do we do this in the right way and ask the Prime Minister to set out a proper leadership timetable and give these ministers the freedom to nominate whoever they want to see as leader of our party and the Prime Minister of our country and that is what I think he should still do.'He added: 'The third challenge is that does this debate mean we are helping Reform rather than beating Reform.'I think the voters have sent us a very clear message and I think it would be good for the Labour Party to show that we have noticed. I think we would be showing respect to brilliant Labour people who lost through no fault of their own but most importantly of all, I think we would be showing respect to the country.'And if we carry on as we are and we just say: 'We are on the right course, we just need to go a bit faster', there is no virtue in going a bit faster off the same cliff.'We need to change course. It is not about which personality you want but which platform and which set of ideas. 'What is the programme for the country not just now but into the future. That is the battle of ideas I want to see.'Join the discussionCan Labour recover before the next general election?What's your view? Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is also seen as a leadership contenderThe right-wing MP for Ilford North used his speech to criticise Labour's 'wipeout' at the local elections and called on the party to unite and defeat Reform, saying the Conservatives were no longer the main opposition.Calling Labour's disastrous results 'unprecedented both in terms of the scale of defeat and the consequences of that failure', he lashed out at Reform UK and its leader, saying Labour risked 'being the handmaidens of Nigel Farage' unless they heeded the warning sent to them by the local elections. However he warned people were increasingly uncertain that Labour could 'rise to the challenge'. He also attacked Welsh and Scottish nationalism as an 'existential threat to the future integrity of our entire country'. 'For the first time in our country's history nationalists are in power in every corner of the UK,' he said. 'Welsh Labour not only out of power for the first time since devolution but consigned to a poor third place behind Plaid Cymru and Reform. 'The SNP mired in the scandals of Salmond and Sturgeon and with an abysmal record of failure back in power in Scotland and in England more than 1500 Labour councillors gone. 'The wipeout in some of our heartlands was so bad that losses in just four Labour stongholds Barnsley, Sunderland, Gatehead and Wakefield and Gates made up more than ten per cent of our total losses. The former Health Secretary also called on Britain to rejoin the EU. He said Brexit was a 'catastrophic mistake' 'Scotish and Welsh nationalism represents an 'existential threat to the future integrity of our entire country' but the English nationalism represented by Farage and Reform is a threat to the values and ideals that that have made this country great.'He said: 'Voters did more than send Labour a message they issued a warning - that Labour risk being the handmaidens of Nigel Farage.'He highlighted the scale of Labour's local election results by pointing to areas like Barnsley where 50 years of Labour rule was ended.In a lengthy speech, which at times resembled a campaign speech, Mr Streeting talked about the need for 'a bigger politics', looking at topics like the role of AI and technology in the workplace.He harked back to the post war days of Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee when 'Britain was still capable of doing big things', talking about his own motivation as a 'working class boy' to go into politics to ensure others like him 'with a background like mine' had the 'same opportunities and choices as those from the most privileged backgrounds'.He said he was 'profoundly shocked' that 'for the first time in modern history' the next generation would not have better prospects than the one that went before and did not. Mr Streeting also said that he proved he was a winner after fighting a very tough campaign in his own constituency of Ilford in his own backyard when The Gaza Independents 'came at me with a very personal campaign that was directed at me and was a warm up for the General Election' but Labour only suffered a 'net loss of three candidates'. He ended his speech to rousing applause: 'I know how to win. I know how to win whether our opponents position themselves to our right or to our left and my warning to the party is don't get dragged off by the siren voices who say to win the next General Election we need to try and out-Reform Reform or out-Green the Greens, we will win the next General Election by being Labour.' Mr Burnham said he will fight the Makerfield by-election in June to 'save' the Labour Party Mr Burnham said was prepared to 'fight to the highest level' if he is successful in contesting and then winning the Makerfield by-electionIn his resignation letter last week, he said it was clear the Prime Minister would not lead the Labour Party into the next General Election and said 'where we need direction, we have drift'. Meanwhile the PM was said to be spending the weekend 'in the bunker' at his official countryside retreat Chequers considering 'all options'. While publicly Downing Street is insisting the PM will not stand down and will fight on despite around 100 Labour MPs calling for him to go, privately Sir Keir is said to be 'much less defiant'. Insiders suggested he could even stand aside for Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham if he became an MP and was the only candidate to challenge his leadership. In a tumultuous week, Mr Burnham was cleared yesterday by Labour's ruling body, the NEC, to stand as a potential candidate in the Makerfield by-election in Greater Manchester. He is expected to be officially selected to represent Labour on Thursday.The by-election is currently planned for June 18 but he will face stiff opposition from Reform UK and his election as an MP is not guaranteed.Meanwhile, he addressed his critics who have claimed that he delayed challenging the PM immediately after he resigned last week because he did not have the support of enough MPs. This was denied by his supporters.He is still expected to represent the right of the party in any challenge for the premiership with Burnham, if he is elected next month, uniting the left behind him including Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband. They were both said today to be prepared to give up their own leadership ambitions to support him.Ministerial sources say 'all options' are being considered while the PM is being urged not to announce a resignation before the by-election which could trigger a succession 'free-for-all'. Sir Keir Starmer is said to be 'much less defiant' about staying in power despite allies previously claiming he would fight any leadership challengeA Cabinet minister loyal to the PM said: 'We need to avoid chaos here. The second he does that, all bets are off. There will be the pro-Andy camp, the anti-Andy camp, the 'anybody but Wes' camp, the fake unifiers, the Al Carns ego faction. It all comes out and no one has control over anyone.'Mr Burnham was blocked in an earlier bid to return to Parliament when Sir Keir blocked him from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election in January.Earlier, one of Streeting's key allies, Business Secretary Peter Kyle, warmly praised him and his leadership of the NHS and implicitly criticised the government he is still a key member of as over cautious.'Wes is legendary and a good solid and courageous friend and a talent that is much needed by this party,' he told the conference.'The challenge of the next phase of this Labour government must be to do what we promised not cautiously, not timidly and not apologetically but with an urgency worthy of the times in which we live.'Mr Streeting's announcement comes as Andy Burnham said on Saturday that he is standing in the Makerfield by-election on June 18 to 'save' the Labour Party. He told the BBC: 'We've got to see this as a moment to reclaim the Labour Party, to save it from where it's been. We can't just carry on as we are.'Mr Burnham also said: 'I think Britain has been on the wrong path for 40 years, it started de-industrialisation, de-regulation of the buses, privatisation of life's essentials.' Angela Rayner suggested earlier this week that she would run in a Labour leadership contest'We need to fix politics, to fix the economy, get the basics back under public control so that people can afford their rent, energy bills, etc.'Mr Burnham also claimed earlier today that he is focused on winning a seat in Parliament, rather than ousting Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.But he said was prepared to 'fight to the highest level' if he is successful in contesting and then winning the Makerfield by-election, which could allow him a path back to Westminster and to challenge Sir Keir's authority.The self-styled 'King of the North' also said a 'big change moment is needed' following a bruising set of elections for Labour in England, Scotland and Wales.The Greater Manchester mayor's path back to Parliament is far from straightforward, as Reform has promised to throw all of its resources into the campaign for the Makerfield by-election. Sitting Labour MP Josh Simons resigned earlier this week to provide Mr Burnham with a route back to Westminster. Speaking to Channel 4 News on Saturday, Mr Burnham was asked if he had made a deliberate tilt at the Reform-facing constituency to show he can beat Nigel Farage's party.He replied: 'I was very deliberate in speaking to Josh [Simons] and both of us have got the same diagnosis.Mr Burnham was blocked in an earlier bid to return to Parliament when Sir Keir blocked him from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election in January.Former deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner also said she would 'play her part' in any leadership contest, hinting she may run too despite previous rumours she had made a deal with Mr Burnham. Her comments came as she announced that she had been cleared by HMRC over her tax affairs. Energy Secretary 'Red' Ed Miliband is also touted as a potential leadership candidate and is expected to stand. The PM said he wants to avoid the 'chaos' that would be caused by an open leadership race. A tough fight is expected with Reform in Makerfield following its success in the recent local elections. Nigel Farage's party easily outpaced Labour in neighbouring wards to the constituency, signalling strong support for him in the region.Reform is holding interviews for its own candidate for the ward next week with Mr Farage warning the party would 'throw everything we can at this by-election'.