Lord Adonis’s resignation letter – full text

Andrew Adonis, the former Labour Transport Secretary and newly non-affiliated peer, has quit as the government’s infrastructure tsar, slamming the Prime Minister’s Brexit direction in the process. Here’s the full text:

Dear Prime Minister,

The hardest thing in politics is to bring about lasting change for the better, and I believe in co-operation across parties to achieve it.

In this spirit I was glad to accept reappointment last year as Chair of the independent National Infrastructure Commission, when you also reaffirmed your support for HS2, which will help overcome England’s north-south divide when it opens in just eight years time. I would like to thank you for your courtesy in our personal dealings.

The Commission has done good work in the past 27 months, thanks to dedicated public servants and commissioners. Sir John Armitt, my deputy chair, and Phil Graham, chief executive, have been brilliant throughout.

I am particularly proud of our plans for equipping the UK with world-class 4G and 5G mobile systems; for Crossrail 2 in London and HS3 to link the Northern cities; and for transformational housing growth in the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge corridor.