Conservative MP for Stevenage to stand down at next general election
Stephen McPartland's held the seat since 2010
The Conservative MP for Stevenage is set to stand down at the next general election.
Stephen McPartland - who first won his seat in 2010 - told Rishi Sunak in a letter that “after much soul-searching, I have decided not to seek reselection in order to take up new opportunities outside of politics”.
Their moves come as the Prime Minister struggles to recover ground in the national opinion polls, which puts Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party around 20 points ahead of the Tories.
Mr McPartland said representing Stevenage had been “the biggest honour of my life”.
He retained the seat with an 8,562 majority in 2019.
Mr McPartland was briefly a security minister in Boris Johnson’s caretaker government, and served as chair of the Regulatory Reform Select Committee.
He was recently the only Tory MP to vote against the Government on the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill at second reading, describing it as a “shameful Bill” that does “nothing to stop strikes”.
Announcing his departure, the 46-year-old tweeted: “I will always support @Conservatives as the party that gave a working class kid from Brixton the opportunity to become Prime Minister.”
A string of senior Tories also plan to exit Westminster, including former chancellor Sajid Javid, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and former environment secretary George Eustice.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock, who was a Conservative until he lost the whip over his I’m A Celebrity appearance, and Dehenna Davison, seen as a rising star in the Tory party, will also be quitting the Commons.