This will make him the darling of the left tonight…
Text of letter of resignation below:
It is with deep sadness that I am tendering my resignation from the Shadow Cabinet.
My role as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights and Protections has become untenable.
When you became leader, I accepted the role because I wanted to fight for the working people of this country. It has become clear to me that I cannot do this as a member of the Shadow Cabinet.
Yesterday, your office instructed me to go into a meeting to argue against a National Minimum Wage of £15 an hour and against Statutory Sick Pay at the living wage. This is something I could not do.
After many months of a pandemic when we made commitments to stand by key workers, I cannot now look those same workers in the eye and tell them they are not worth a wage that is enough to live on, or that they don’t deserve security when they are ill.
We live in a time when the people of this country have a renewed awareness of how important the work done by millions of low-paid workers truly is. To have the Labour Party, the party of working people, fail to realise that is a bitter blow.
I joined your frontbench team on the basis of the pledges that you made in the leadership campaign to bring about unity within the parry and maintain our commitment to socialist policies.
After eighteen months of your leadership, our movement is more divided than ever and the pledges that you made to the membership are not being honoured. This is just the latest of many.I am immensely proud of the work my team has done to produce Labour’s Employment Rights Green Paper, which was unveiled earlier this week. I will continue working with comrades across the movement to ensure that this agenda is delivered.
I look forward to being free to fight for the working people of this country from the backbenches.
Yours, Andy McDonald MP
