Rosie Duffield resigns as Labour MP over Starmer’s gift scandal

Rosie Duffield has stepped down as the Labour MP for Canterbury, becoming the first to resign since the last General Election.

Duffield, who has served the Kent constituency since 2017, will likely sit as an independent after surrendering the whip today.

In her resignation letter, she criticised Keir Starmer over the expensive gifts he and his wife received from Lord Alli. Since becoming Labour leader in 2019, Starmer has received more gifts and freebies than any other MP.

His declared gifts amount to £107,145, with £39,122 coming from millionaire Lord Alli, including clothing, glasses, and accommodation.

Duffield cited this and Starmer’s decision to limit payments aiding retirees with winter heating costs as reasons for quitting Labour.

Labour MP Rosie Duffield has resigned the Labour whip with immediate effect. Her resignation pulls no punches:

“As Prime Minister, your managerial and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, have come crashing down on us as a party after we… pic.twitter.com/oaxrTkzF7f

— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) September 28, 2024

She also opposed maintaining the two-child benefit cap, which limits child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

“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,

“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.”

In July, the government announced plans to means-test the Winter Fuel Allowance, an annual payment of at least £200 previously available to anyone over 66.

The plan would cut eligibility from around 11.4 million pensioners to just 1,500,000 of the poorest and most vulnerable people.

The government won a vote on the plan by 348 votes to 228 earlier this month. Fifty-three Labour MPs abstained or were absent, with one voting against. Duffield stood firmly against this sentiment.

“They have no vision.”
“They have no soul.”
“They’re self-serving careerists.”

With Rosie Duffield becoming the first Labour MP to resign, @owenjonesjourno lists the various ‘nauseating’ issues with the party. pic.twitter.com/CCElw1F0lP

— LBC (@LBC) September 28, 2024

“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 [on the winter fuel payment] 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?”

Her resignation from Labour comes after years of increasing isolation over her views on trans rights.

Duffield, among other remarks criticised by LGBTQ+ rights campaigners, has described trans women as ‘male-bodied’ and insisted they should not have access to domestic violence shelters and single-sex toilets. This follows her ‘anti-trans’ comments earlier this year.

“With my 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,

“I and others put it on the agenda by being very loud about women’s rights and I am glad it is now a mainstream discussion, but that’s not why I am leaving the Labour Party. The Labour Party has left me.”

As an independent MP, Duffield is no longer part of any political party. Although she that Labour will always be her ‘natural home’.

“I hope to be able to return to the party in the future,’ she wrote, ‘when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many before the greed of the few.”