MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party, criticising Sir Keir Starmer over his acceptance of free gifts and accusing the government of pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies.
In a resignation letter to Starmer, the Canterbury MP criticised the government’s decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the Prime Minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
In the letter, published by the Sunday Times on Saturday evening, 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.”
Ms Duffield has been a Labour MP since 2017, when she ousted Tory stalwart Julian Brazier to claim the Canterbury seat.
Relations between her and the Labour leadership have long been strained, particularly on the issue of transgender rights.
Ms Duffield’s letter 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”.
“The sleaze, the nepotism and the apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle has done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party”
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) September 28, 2024
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield quits Labour pic.twitter.com/nWa49q9gri
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.
“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 one of us in Parliament. They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect our poorest, most vulnerable constituents.”
Her letter said she intended to sit as an Independent MP “guided by my core Labour values”.
Conservative leadership candidates took aim at the Prime Minister over Ms Duffield’s resignation.
Tom Tugendhat, Tory leadership hopeful and fellow Kent MP, said Ms Duffield’s decision to leave the Labour Party demonstrates the Government is “about self-service”.
Meanwhile Tory leadership frontrunner Robert Jenrick said the Government was “already in disarray, crumbling under the weight of their rank hypocrisy”.
One Labour backbencher said they were glad to see the back of Ms Duffield, describing her as “poisonous”.
No matter your views on her stated reasons for quitting, Rosie Duffield has made a political career out of dehumanising one of the most marginalised groups in society.
— Nadia Whittome MP (@NadiaWhittomeMP) September 28, 2024
She should never have been allowed the privilege of resigning. Labour should have withdrawn the whip long ago.
They added: “Yes, they have a long-standing bunker mentality in the leader’s office and need better PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) engagement, but they’re at least doing something right if they never talk to her.”
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, criticised Ms Duffield’s views on trans rights as she said she felt Ms Duffield should have been made to leave the Labour Party “long ago”.
“No matter your views on her stated reasons for quitting, Rosie Duffield has made a political career out of dehumanising one of the most marginalised groups in society,” Ms Whittome wrote on X.
“She should never have been allowed the privilege of resigning. Labour should have withdrawn the whip long ago.”
Her 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.
Ms Duffield did not vote on either the proposed amendment to the King’s Speech or a recent Conservative motion calling for the restriction of the winter fuel payment to be halted.
In her resignation letter, she also criticised the Prime Minister for promoting people with “no proven political skills and no previous parliamentary experience” and said he had been “elevated immediately to a shadow cabinet position without following the usual path of honing your political skills on the backbenches”.
Starmer was made a shadow home office minister in 2015, two months after he was first elected as an MP, and in turn appointed a number of MPs elected in 2024 to junior ministerial positions.
One of those, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer, is the son of Starmer’s first shadow attorney general Lord Falconer, while Liam Conlon, son of Number 10 chief of staff Sue Gray, was made a parliamentary aid to Department for Transport.
In April, after expressing differing stances on trans issues, Starmer described Ms Duffield as “a much-respected member” of the parliamentary Labour party, and said they “get on very well”.
The Labour Party has been approached by The Standard.
