Conservative MP and Public Accounts Committee member Stephen Phillips has resigned, citing ‘irreconcilable policy differences’ with the government over Brexit
The MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham has held his seat since 2010 backed leaving the EU but said the government had ‘bypassed parliament’ since the vote. He has served on the PAC since 2014.
His resignation comes after the High Court ruled the government must allow Parliament a vote before it can trigger Article 50 to commence the formal process of leaving the EU.
Barrister Phillips said he was ‘unable properly to represent the people who elected me’. In a recent article he wrote for The Guardian, he said ‘a lurch to the right since June is giving us tyranny not by EU but by government’.
The government’s attempt to start negotiations with the EU without the explicit approval of Parliament was ‘divisive and plain wrong’, he wrote.
Phillips is the second Conservative MP to step down in as many weeks after Zac Goldsmith forced a by-election in Richmond over his opposition to building a third runway at Heathrow airport.
There will now be a by-election in Sleaford and North Hykeham, a safe seat for the Conservatives.
