A Labour MP Has Quit The Party Less Than 3 Months After Its Election Victory

A Labour MP has quit the party less than three months since its landslide election victory.

Rosie Duffield blamed Keir Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary” policies as well as the freebies row which has engulfed Keir Starmer in recent weeks.

The Canterbury MP announced her shock decision in an interview with the Sunday Times.

Duffield, a former Labour whip who was first elected as an MP in 2017, identified the decision to axe winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, as well as keeping the two-child benefit cap, as the main reasons for her move.

In her resignation letter to the PM, she said: “Although many ‘last straws’ have led to my decision, my reason for leaving now is the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to, however unpopular they are with the electorate and your own MPs.

“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 affects hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents. This is not what I was elected to do. It is not even wise politics, and it certainly is not ‘the politics of service’.”

Duffield also condemned the “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which has seen the PM, his wife and other senior Labour figures accept clothes, concert tickets and other hospitality from supporters.

“The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale, she said.

“I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.”

Duffield, who has clashed with Starmer in the past over the issue of trans rights, has grown increasingly critical of the prime minister in recent weeks.

In a direct attack on the PM, she wrote: “As prime minister, your managerial style and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, have come crashing down on us as a party after we worked so hard, promised so much, and waited a long 14 years to be mandated by the British public to return to power.

“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.

“How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorate’s sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?”

Duffield added: “The Labour Party was formed to speak for those of us without a voice, and I stood for election partly because I saw decisions about the lives of those like me being made in Westminster by only the most privileged few.

“Right now, I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them that anything has changed. I hope to be able to return to the party in the future, when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many before the greed of the few.”

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Eddie Izzard Accuses MPs Of ‘Bullying’ Over ‘Transphobic’ Comments

Eddie Izzard has accused two MPs of “bullying” after they made “transphobic” comments about the comedian, who is campaigning to become a Labour election candidate.

The 60-year-old, launched her bid this month to become Sheffield Central’s MP, told people to “join the 21st century”.

Izzard, who has many connections to Sheffield, having studied accounting, launched her creative career and carried out local activism there, said the city needs “to be bolder, brighter, stronger… on the map”.

Speaking to the PA news agency on Thursday, she said she has been getting “a great reaction in the street” during her campaign but a small minority of people have made transphobic comments.

Earlier this week, Conservative MP Lee Anderson said he “would not follow him into the toilets” if she came to parliament, while Labour MP Rosie Duffield said: “I’m not calling Eddie Izzard a woman.”

In response, Izzard said: “Some people aren’t up to speed, some people haven’t joined the 21st century and, well, they’ve got to get on the bus now because I’ve been out for so long now that I don’t know why they didn’t bring this up before.

“It’s different now that I’m going for a parliamentary seat, but I don’t think bullying is a great thing to be happening and so I’m just going to carry on.”

Addressing Duffield’s comments directly, she said: “Transphobic attitudes come from all different quarters, unfortunately.”

She added that the Labour MP’s comments did not make her feel unwelcome to run as a candidate for the party, but added: “Again, join the 21st century – trans people exist. I exist.”

Izzard said she hopes that being elected will have a “positive impact” for diversity in parliament and for Sheffield Central itself as she brings her global renown, activism and energy to the constituency.

“The fact that I’m trans is kind of by the by,” she said, adding that she “absolutely” thinks people should be focusing on her policies and vision for Sheffield Central.

Izzard is running after the constituency’s incumbent, Paul Blomfield, announced he would be standing down at the next general election.

On Labour’s election prospects, Izzard said new prime minister Rishi Sunak could pose more of a threat and that the party needs to get behind leader Sir Keir Starmer.

“I think it’s going to be tougher for us rather than having Liz Truss in there, but it doesn’t matter,” she said.

“We’re at a certain place in the polls and we’ve got to carry on fighting, and I’m very passionate about getting Keir Starmer in.”

Izzard said she has supported “every Labour leader going”, before stressing the importance of uniting behind a leader to get into government.

“You have to support the leader – that is how it works in politics – and we’re a broad church,” she said.

“We need to be near left and further left – we might agree or disagree on some things but we’re heading in the same direction.”

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‘Rosie Speaks Truth’ – 4 Women Explain Why MP’s Domestic Abuse Speech Was So Powerful

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