Labour minister leaves role just two weeks after Keir Starmer appointment

But a statement from Downing Street on Friday afternoon has confirmed she has since left.

Curran had served as Glasgow East's Labour MP for five years until she was ousted by the SNP.

She was elevated to the Lords through a life peerage in January this year, before taking up her brief ministerial role on May 22.

GB News understands that Curran's departure was due to a health condition that she thought would be manageable in the job, but proved too difficult.

The Labour peer, before taking up her energy role, had spoken out in strong terms in favour of net zero, which she deemed was "vital" to Britain.

"The stark reality that we must face is climate change and what it will do to us... it is here and it will impact on all our lives," she told the Lords back in April.

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"So let us galvanise around the clean energy mission and deliver the targets, because that is the future that our people need."

A Government spokesman said: "We thank Baroness Curran for her work at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, delivering our clean energy mission.

"Baroness Curran has resigned due to health reasons. We send her our best wishes at this time and ask for her privacy to be respected."

The Starmer Government has largely avoided high-profile resignations, except that of International Development Minister Anneliese Dodds in February over Labour's cuts to foreign aid.

Dodds, who had served as Shadow Chancellor and was a close ally to the Prime Minister, quit her post just days after Starmer confirmed the cut would be used to fund a surge in defence spending.

In the Parliamentary Labour Party, Starmer was forced to remove the whip from seven MPs who voted against the two-child benefit cap in July last year.

His party has also suspended Mike Amesbury, the former MP who went on to be convicted of common assault against a constituent.

Dan Norris, the MP for North East Somerset and Hanham, was immediately suspended earlier this year after he was arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences.