Haverhill Town Council calls on MP Matt Hancock to "do the honourable thing and resign your seat"

Haverhill Town Council has called on MP Matt Hancock to resign following his decision to absent himself from parliament and take part in I’m a Celebrity ...Get Me Out of Here.

Councillors from across the political spectrum - including a majority of Conservative members - called on Mr Hancock "to resign his post immediately", in response to his decision to enter the ITV reality show instead of "representing his constituents in parliament".

A letter has been sent to the MP 's office expressing the town council membership's severe disapproval of his decision to absent himself from parliament at this time and inviting him to resign.

Haverhill is the largest town in Mr Hancock’s constituency, and the fourth-largest town in Suffolk, with a 30,000 population.

A letter sent this afternoon to Mr Hancock's office on behalf of the council by clerk, Colin Poole, said: "By a majority vote the members of Haverhill Town Council have directed me to express their displeasure at your decision to absent yourself from your duty to your constituents, to join the cast of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.

"At a time when unprecedented cost-of-living pressures on your residents are causing real hardship to them, and we have a failing health service locally with appalling ambulance response times, the energy crisis causing schools and other public services severe issues in maintaining services, my members believe we need all hands on deck to fight our corner. "Currently there is nobody to speak for West Suffolk in the House of Commons and your actions are unlikely to gain any sympathy for West Suffolk when all the other parliamentarians are in the chamber fighting their own corners.

"By your actions you have made it clear to everyone that you see your future outside of politics.

"My members ask that you do the honourable thing and resign your seat, so you can follow your chosen path and clear the pitch for someone who wants to serve the people of West Suffolk."