Labour MP Rosie Duffield resigns as she slams Keir Starmer's 'cruel' winter fuel axe
Labour MP for Canterbury Rosie Duffield has resigned citing, in part, Sir Keir Starmer's acceptance of more than £100,000 in gifts including football tickets, clothing and accommodation.
Rosie Duffield has resigned as a Labour MP citing the party’s “cruel and unnecessary policies” in a bitter blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
In doing so, Duffield, 53, becomes the fastest MP to resign following a general election victory in history.
In a lengthy resignation letter, Ms Duffield pointed to the controversy over freebies in addition to the removal of the winter fuel allowance and failure to remove the two-child benefit cap as the reasons for her decision.
Ms Duffield said: “You repeat often that you will make the ‘tough decisions’ and that the country is ‘all in this together.’ But those decisions do not directly affect any of us in parliament.
“They are cruel and unnecessary and affect hundreds and thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents.”
@RosieDuffield1 resigns the Labour whip citing the PM’s “cruel and unnecessary policies”. pic.twitter.com/yrvMavn3rx
— Conor Wilson (@ConorWilson2) September 28, 2024
Ms Duffield also pointed towards the Prime Minister’s “heavy-handed” management style whilst criticising him for failing to show “what most experienced backbenchers would recognise as true or inspiring leadership.”
The accusations of heavy-handedness are not new, with the prime minister being criticised by some for unnecessarily removing the Labour whip from six MPs who voted to remove the two-child benefit cap, a vote Labour won convincingly anyway.
He was also criticised after hastily suspending a Labour candidate during the general election for placing a bet against himself- a common tradition for aspiring MPs.
The row which has engulfed the Labour Party this week over senior MPs' acceptance of luxury gifts seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Ms Duffield who has served as MP for Canterbury since 2017.
She said: “The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once-proud party.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of these people can grasp - this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister.
“Forcing a vote to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for — why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment?”
It emerged on Friday that Keir Starmer had accepted more than £30,000 of designer clothes by Labour peer Lord Alli - a figure higher than many people’s yearly income.
The revelations came on the back of controversy over Angela Rayner’s acceptance of Lord Alli’s New York penthouse for a holiday, Bridget Phillipson’s acceptance of a range of hospitality tickets and Lucy Powell’s extravagant trips to huge sporting events.
One Labour MP texts: “good riddance”
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) September 28, 2024
Another Labour MP tells me they are disappointed Duffield was on the general election candidate list, as it had been long assumed she would resign the whip post-election. https://t.co/W7aYVCUm5d
Ms Duffield is set to be prepared for a Labour backlash following her decision. She will now sit as an independent candidate in the House of Commons.
According to Political Correspondent for Politics Joe Ava Santina, at least one Labour MP was pleased with Duffield's decision texting: "Good Riddance."
Duffield has been a long-time critic of Labour’s policy on women and is a close friend of J K Rowling who has also been vocal in her views.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Duffield said: "With my [gender critical] views, all I wanted was for those views to be taken seriously and discussed and I think as a movement the Labour Party has shifted and we are talking about those things now."
Ms Duffield has apologised to her constituents who less than three months ago re-elected her as a Labour candidate.
She said: “I never wanted to have to make this decision and I am deeply sorry that the Labour Party is not the Labour Party that I signed up to represent but the Labour Party now does not seem to represent the values that I have always had that haven’t changed.
“I am still someone with Labour values and my constituents know that those are still the causes that I will champion and I still very firmly believe in social justice and the green agenda and all the other things that chime particularly [in my] constituency, but I can’t pretend any more that the Labour Party represents me or them.”
