A Kent MP has made history by becoming the fastest to jump ship after a general election after resigning from the Labour party.

In a damning open letter to the Prime Minister, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield blamed her decision on Sir Keir Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary” policies and the freebies row engulfing him and his party.

Duffield, 53, is resigning the whip “with immediate effect” in a letter to the Prime Minister today.

She attacked the Labour leader for the “staggering hypocrisy” of accepting gifts worth tens of thousands of pounds while scrapping winter fuel payments.

She, on the other hand, has not declared receiving any gifts in the last 12 months, according to the most recent register.

However, she did not vote Conservatives’ motion to block the bill for winter fuel payment changes:

In her resignation letter she wrote: “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.”

Turning on his decision to retain the two-child benefit cap and axe the winter fuel payment for all but the poorest pensioners, Duffield said: “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.

Speaking about his talk of “tough decisions” she said: “But those decisions do not directly affect any one of us in Parliament.

“They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents. This is not what I was elected to do.”

Hitting out at the Prime Minister’s “hypocrisy”, she added: “Your managerial 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.

“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.”

The former teaching assistant went on: “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.

“Forcing a vote 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 or remorse?

“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. My values are those of a democratic socialist Labour Party and I have been elected three times to act on those values on behalf of my constituents.”

Duffield has made national headlines through her controversial stance on women’s rights, and previously told KentOnline she is unable to lead a normal life because of concerns over her personal safety and constant trolling.

In 2023 she was investigated by Labour over allegations of antisemitism and transphobia after liking a post on X by Father Ted writer Graham Linehan, although she was later cleared.

Mr Linehan was replying to a tweet from comedian Eddie Izzard, who had launched a bid to become an MP, which said: “I’m a trans superhero — but if I’d lived in Nazi Germany I’d have been murdered for it.”

The Irish comedy writer responded: “Ah, yes, the Nazis, famously bigoted against straight white men with blonde hair.”

Duffield is now in her third term representing Canterbury after first taking the seat in 2017.

Most recently, in July, she won by a majority of 8,653.

She says she will now stand as an independent, adding: "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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