Ian Mearns MP explains why he resigned as a PPS

As we reported yesterday, Gateshead MP Ian Mearns resigned as a PPS following his rebellion against the party line (along with 40+ others) on welfare sanctions. Mearns has told International Business Times his reasons for rebelling – and resigning:

“Based on my casework experience I do not have any real faith at all that Iain Duncan Smith could oversee a fair, open and transparent mechanism at the DWP. We were voting for possible sanctions on everyone since 2011. That’s not fair.”

“Then I had to resign, or it would have been a case of getting the sack because I had voted against the wishes of the leadership of the party on this issue.”

“The line being taken by the frontbench team was one that everyone was not comfortable with. I have talked to colleagues and many of them who abstained did so with a very heavy heart.”

“The timing was unfortunate. On the day of the Budget, the frontbench did not want to run the risk of being called irresponsible. But there’s neither a good nor a bad time when we want to do the right thing.”