UK Labour MP resigns from front bench as party rift grows ahead of Article 50 vote

UK shadow education minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned from the Labour frontbench, telling Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that she could not reconcile herself to the party’s three-line whip to vote for triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty.

By triggering Article 50, the UK would formally notify the EU of its intention to withdraw from the bloc, starting the two-year clock to end negotiations.

In her letter to Corbyn, Saddiq said voting to start the process of leaving the EU would be a betrayal of her north London constituents, three-quarters of whom voted to remain in the EU.

 “I have always been clear – I do not represent Westminster in Hampstead and Kilburn, I represent Hampstead and Kilburn in Westminster,” Siddiq wrote in her resignation letter. “I feel that the most effective place for me to counter Theresa May’s hard Brexit is from the backbenches.”

Siddiq said she had made the final decision to resign after Corbyn confirmed to the shadow cabinet on Thursday morning that Labour MPs would be expected to back the Article 50 Bill and a three-line whip would be imposed.

“On the announcement of the three-line whip on the Article 50 vote, I therefore feel I have no choice but to resign from my frontbench role as shadow minister for early years. I do not support the triggering of Article 50 and cannot reconcile myself to the frontbench position”.

Siddiq was first elected in May 2015 with a majority of just 1,138, and appointed to the Labour frontbench in Corbyn’s reshuffle following his re-election in September.

At the European Union referendum last year, around 75 per cent of her constituents voted to remain. She also has one of the most marginal seats in the country – at the 2015 election she won around 1,000 votes more than her closest rival.

“I will look carefully at amendments brought to the debate, consider them in their own right and work constructively to develop such guarantees,” she added. “I support Keir Starmer and my Labour colleagues, and know they are working to get the best deal for Britain throughout this process.”