Wes Streeting joins Northumberland MP to speak to local farmers

Mr Streeting, who is tipped to mount a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer, met local farmers with Hexham MP Joe Morris.

The Ilford North MP resigned as health secretary in the wake of Labour’s disastrous results in the local elections earlier this month, claiming he had lost confidence in the leadership of the Prime Minister. He had been expected to launch a formal leadership challenge, but this has yet to materialise.

Instead, Mr Streeting has announced he will be visiting areas that Labour has lost support in since the General Election.

Hexham returned a Labour MP for the first time in history in 2024, but the party struggled significantly at the polls during local elections in 2025 and was reduced to just eight seats across the county.

In a video posted on social media, Mr Streeting said: “I’m off on the first of what will be a number of stops to people and places that Labour have lost since the General Election, to talk about what has gone wrong; why we have lost people; and crucially how we win back their trust.

“I am off to Hexham with Joe Morris, our brilliant Labour MP, to spend some time with his farmers. We said in our manifesto that farm security is national security, and that’s true.

“Farming and agriculture aren’t the biggest contributors to our economy, but they are absolutely huge contributors to our daily life, the food we eat and they are custodians of our land. And, I tell you what – if the country hits hard times, as we have done in recent years, we’re going to need for farmers – so let’s go and talk about how we win them back.”

Despite Labour’s manifesto commitments, the party has made a number of controversial moves that have impacted the farming sector. Chief amongst these was the so-called Family Farm Tax, which would have seen inherited agricultural assets taxed at 20%.

These assets were previously exempt, allowing farms to stay in families without costly tax bills when they were passed down. The Government announced a significant watering down of the policy, saying the threshold will rise from £1 million to £2.5 million per person, after more than a year of campaigning by farmers.

There has also been anger about increased taxes on fertiliser and farm vehicles.

Speaking after the visit, Hexham MP Joe Morris said: “It was great to welcome Wes to the constituency to hear from farmers first hand. Northumberland’s farmers produce world class food and are crucial to supporting our communities and local economies.

“I want to thank those local farmers who hosted us and who shared their frank and honest views on our food security, protecting our natural environment, how international events impact them and the need for certainty and consistency in government. To have a major figure in national politics hear directly from our farming community shows how important they and the industry are.”