Rosie Duffield resigns as Labour MP: ‘Sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale’
Duffield has previously been criticised for her "gender critical" views
By Alim Kheraj
Rosie Duffield has quit her role as Labour MP for Canterbury, criticising the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer‘s “cruel and unnecessary” policies in a scathing resignation letter.
Duffield said that since taking over as the leader of the Labour Party, Starmer had “used various heavy-handed management tactics” and criticised the PM’s “managerial and technocratic approach”.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she wrote in reference to the ongoing ‘freebies scandal‘, which, among other things, has seen Starmer declare over £100,000 in free gifts and tickets.
“Rosie Duffield has made a political career out of dehumanising one of the most marginalised groups in society” – Nadia Whittome, MP
In her resignation letter, Duffield called out the “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” of the scandal, highlighting how Starmer had decided to retain the Conservative’s two-child limit on benefit payments and the party’s decision to cut winter fuel payments.
“I now have no confidence in your commitment to deliver the so-called ‘change’ you promised during the General Election campaign and the changes we have been striving for as a political party for over a decade,” she wrote.
Duffield has long been a controversial figure in the Labour party owning to her ‘gender critical’ views. The MP has previously opposed the reform of the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland, criticised gender-inclusive language, called for trans people to be banned from single-sex spaces, and used transphobic language when referring to trans women.
In November 2023, it was reported by The Sunday Times that she was under investigation over allegations of transphobia and antisemitism.
Duffield, who has served as the Canterbury MP since 2017, was later “completely exonerated” of the allegations.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, following Duffield’s resignation, Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, wrote: “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.”
She added: “She should never have been allowed the privilege of resigning. Labour should have withdrawn the whip long ago.”
Duffield will now sit in Parliament as an independent MP. Attitude has reached out to the Labour Party for comment.