Anna Turley, the shadow minister for civil society, has resigned this morning.
Turley, the MP for Redcar in North Yorkshire, is one of around 30 members of the Labour shadow ministerial team to have resigned – at the time of publication – as part of a coup to topple shadow prime minister Jeremy Corbyn.
Turley tweeted her resignation at 7.47am, along with a letter to Corbyn.
Turley was appointed by Corbyn in September last year, just months after becoming an MP for the first time.
In a statement Turley said it was a privilege to work with charities.
“It was a really difficult and sad decision to resign from my post as shadow civil society minister. The sector is full of the brightest and best and the most dedicated servants of the people. It was my privilege to work with you,” she said.
“I have learnt an enormous amount and intend to carry on the big picture thinking that so many of you were feeding into from the backbenches. I intend to continue to try and be a voice for the sector in any way I can. This is a tough time for the sector but you have the resilience, the passion, the ideas and the people to flourish. I wish you all the best.”
Turley replaced Lisa Nandy, who moved to become shadow energy secretary.
Nandy herself resigned just after noon. She has been touted as a possible replacement for Corbyn – a move which would be seen as positive for the charity sector.
Charity infrastructure bodies, including NCVO, Acevo and the Directory of Social Change paid tribute to Turley.
Asheem Singh, interim chief executive of Acevo, said: "We are sorry to see Anna stand down. She not only understood the sector, but her efforts to include the voices of charities and social enterprises in her work were a welcome endeavour.
"While facing an artillery barrage of legislation and guidance that threatens to silence civil society, having a shadow minister who really did listen was invaluable. In this time of great political change, the Labour party would do well to appoint someone with her vision and empathy to the post."
The DSC also expressed anger that Jeremy Corbyn, in announcing a new group of shadow ministers, has not yet appointed a replacement shadow charities minister.
See the full letter of resignation, below:
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