Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned the Labour whip, accusing the Government of pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies while accepting gifts and donations.
In a resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she criticised the Prime Minister for accepting gifts and donations worth more than £100,000 from Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli.
In the letter published by the Sunday Times she said: “Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
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.”
In particular, Ms Duffield pointed to the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment which has sparked criticism towards Starmer and the party.
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.”
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”.
Her letter said she intended to sit as an Independent MP “guided by my core Labour values”.
She added: “I never thought in a million years that I would feel that I had to sit as an independent MP but the Labour Party now does not seem to represent the values that I have always had that haven’t changed. I am still the same person that stood on that platform in 2017 and 2019 and just a few months ago in 2024.
“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.”
It has previously been revealed that the Prime Minister received over £16,000 for work clothing, glasses and in further donations to his wife.
Starmer was also forced to defend the use of Lord Alli’s flat in central London so his son could revise for his GCSEs and for accepting corporate hospitality from Arsenal FC as he could no longer sit in the stands.
This story is being updated.
