Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned the Labour whip, accusing the Prime Minister of “hypocrisy” and pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies.
In a resignation letter, Ms Duffield attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test winter fuel payments and condemned his handling of the outcry over gifts given to him and other senior Labour figures.
She wrote: “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 those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister.”
Relations between Ms Duffield and the Labour leadership have long been strained, particularly on the issue of transgender rights.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Leon Neal/PA)
The MP went on to criticise Sir Keir’s management of his party, saying he had “never regularly engaged” with backbench MPs and lacked “basic politics and political instincts”.
She added: “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.”
Her letter said she intended to sit as an Independent MP “guided by my core Labour values”.
First elected in 2017, Ms Duffield’s decision to quit the party follows the suspension of seven other Labour MPs who rebelled on the King’s Speech by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished – and brings the total number of Independent MPs to 14.