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Labour MP Caroline Flint has stepped down from her front-bench role as shadow energy secretary after four years in the role following Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide victory in the weekend’s party leadership contest.
A string of shadow cabinet members have already tendered their resignations in protest against Corbyn’s far-left leadership, but Flint said her return to the back benches would be where she is able to “best support the Labour party”.
“I have greatly enjoyed campaigning for the last four years for fair energy bills, to end the scandal of cold homes and for decisive action on climate change, so this was a hard decision to make,” she said in a statement.
But Flint added that she now plans to focus on giving children “an equal chance to get on in life” and “get more people from welfare into rewarding work”.
“Returning to the backbenches will also allow me to spend more time helping Labour reach out to those voters who turned away from us, but who share many of our values.
“I hope this work will be helpful to Jeremy, the Shadow Cabinet and the Labour Party as we rebuild over the next five years,” Flint added.
Corbyn is in the process of naming the top shadow cabinet positions today and has not yet named his new shadow energy secretary.
The opposition party also lost a shadow energy minister in the recent general election after Tom Greatrex failed to hold his Scottish seat following a surge in support for the Scottish National Party.
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