Chris Skidmore has resigned (Picture: PA)
The struggling Conservative Party is facing a new blow this evening as a former minister says he will resign and stand down as an MP ‘as soon as possible’.
Chris Skidmore says he will resign the Conservative whip over new legislation which he argues ‘clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas’.
Mr Skidmore was elected as MP for Kingswood in 2010 and was minister of state jointly at the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy between 2019 and 2020.
In a statement shared on X he said his resignation was prompted by the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which will be introduced to the House of Commons next week.
He said he will resign as an MP when parliament returns next week.
In his statement, he said: ‘This bill would in effect allow more frequent new oil and gas licences and the increased production of new fossil fuels in the North Sea. It is a bill that I have already stated my opposition to.
‘As the former Energy Minister who signed the UK’s net zero commitment by 2050 into law, I cannot vote for a bill that clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas.’
The news is yet another blow for the Tories, who have seen a number of MPs either quit altogether or step down from their ministerial posts.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked from her post and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned over small boat crossings and the government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The Conservatives have also lost almost all of their recent by-elections after Nadine Dorries, Boris Johnson, David Warburton and Nigel Adams resigned.
But the party managed to avoid complete humiliation by hanging on to Boris Johnson’s former seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
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‘As the former Energy Minister who signed the UK’s net zero commitment by 2050 into law, I cannot vote for a bill that clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas.’