Rishi Sunak loses another minister

Graham Stuart has this afternoon quit the government, saying he wishes to focus on local issues after service in various ministerial posts. The Yorkshire MP has spent seven of the last eight years in office, including as energy minister since September 2022. But in a letter today to Rishi Sunak, he says that ‘I have decided that now is the time to step down’ from government. There had previously been reports that Stuart was unhappy with Sunak’s net zero speech reset and had even threatened to quit over the scrapping of the so-called ‘boiler tax.’

Stuart though is making clear that his resignation is about spending more time in his constituency in what a difficult election year for the Tories. He writes that ‘I intend to continue serving my constituents in Beverley and Holderness, campaigning on local issues and look forward to fighting and winning the seat later this year.’