Tulip resigns as shadow minister

Shadow minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned from the Labour frontbench, telling the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, that she could not reconcile herself to the party’s three-line whip to vote for triggering article 50, The Guardian reports.

In her letter to Corbyn, the shadow minister for early years 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. “I do not support the triggering of article 50 and cannot reconcile myself to the frontbench position,” she wrote in her letter to Corbyn.

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 reelection in September.

About 75% of Siddiq’s constituents voted remain in the EU referendum. Her Hampstead and Kilburn seat is a tight three-way marginal and in 2010 her predecessor, Glenda Jackson, had the smallest majority in the country, with just 42 votes more than her Conservative rival.

The Lib Dems also have a strong presence, with their candidate in third place on just 841 fewer votes than Jackson in 2010.