German labour minister Bärbel Bas quits after stepdaughter's death and political attacks deepen Merz coalition crisis

From the Newshound archive · first published 12 October 2026.

Bärbel Bas has stepped down as Germany's labour minister and as co-leader of the Social Democrats following her stepdaughter's death and a subsequent wave of political attacks. In a Facebook post, Bas said she needed time to mourn, without identifying the source of the attacks. Her resignation deals another blow to Friedrich Merz's already precarious coalition government.

Bas held both the SPD co-leadership and the labour ministry simultaneously, so her exit creates a double vacancy at the centre of the centre-left party.

The SPD has been under growing internal and external strain as the Merz coalition has struggled to maintain cohesion since coming to power.

Bas stated that the attacks directed at her in the aftermath of her stepdaughter's death left her no choice, describing the conduct towards her as intolerable.