KEIR STARMER HAS said “my work is done” and “I go with a smile” in his final speech as British prime minister.

Speaking in Downing Street before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to King Charles, Starmer said he would “pass the baton” to Andy Burnham.

The outgoing prime minister, who was joined by his wife Victoria Starmer, colleagues and friends in Downing Street, said the country was “stronger and fairer” than when Labour took office.

Starmer's cabinet, colleagues and friends filled Downing Street to hear his farewell speech. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“I am about to visit His Majesty the King to offer my resignation and close the book on my time as prime minister. My work is done,” he said. 

“In six and a half years, I took our party from a historic defeat in 2019, changed it so it was fit to face the country and won a landslide general election victory in 2024.

“Since then, it has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country as prime minister, and I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago.”

His final exit from No 10 was quieter than when he announced he would be resigning, as a Metropolitan Police ban prevented protesters including anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray from playing loud music outside Downing Street to drown out his words.

Starmer embraces his wife Victoria after his speech. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Starmer said: “I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved.”

After a brief audience with King Charles, Buckingham Palace announced Starmer had tendered his resignation which the British monarch was “graciously pleased to accept”.

Less than an hour later, Burnham was confirmed as the UK’s seventh prime minister in 10 years after meeting King Charles and being asked to form a government. 

Burnham has hinted at tax cuts as part of a package of measures to ease the cost-of-living pressures facing households as he prepared to take office.

He told The Times that “frustration” about the five-year-long freeze in the tax-free income tax allowance of £12,570 (€15,000) had “lodged in my mind” during his campaign to win the Makerfield byelection.

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The Starmers leave for Buckingham Palace. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“They’re just characterising me as a tax raiser,” he said. “Well, again, it’s never that simplistic, is it?”

Burnham said he had a “10-year plan for the country” and “I think that’s what it needs”.

In his first Downing Street speech – which he will deliver without the lectern used by previous prime ministers – he will say he is “acutely conscious” that the UK has had seven prime ministers in a little over 10 years, stressing the need for more stable and responsible politics and pledging to restore faith in government.

With reporting from Press Association