MP Mike Amebsury has resigned from his post on the shadow cabinet to concentrate his efforts on helping his consituents through the cost of living crisis.

The Weaver Vale politician made his announcement on Thursday by way of a letter to Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer. 

The shadow local government minister said that the combination of a decade of cuts to public services, the impact of the pandemic, and soaring living costs had meant a sustained increase in the number of constituents needing his help.

“At both [the 2017 and 2019] elections I promised that I would put my constituents first,” he stated in his letter to the leader of the Labour Party.

“I believe that if I am to continue to do so, I am not able to give the role of shadow local government minister the energy it demands and deserves”.

Chester and District Standard: Mike Amesbury's resignation letter to Labour leader Sir Keir StarmerMike Amesbury's resignation letter to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

Amesbury was first appointed by Keir Starmer to serve in what is now the shadow levelling pp, housing and communities teams in April 2020, having previously served as shadow employment minister.

He worked as part of the shadow housing team before being asked to take on the role of shadow local government minister last December.

As shadow housing minister, he successfully pushed the Government to provide more funding for homeowners facing large costs for removing and replacing cladding found to be dangerous after the Grenfell Tower fire.

He has also been a vocal critic of the Government’s repeated delays to introducing full leasehold reform, which would return security and control to millions of homeowners across the country.

More recently, as shadow local government minister, he has criticised the government’s ‘hollowing out’ of councils since 2010, taking away £431 in local government funding for every person in northern England, while handing back only £32 in levelling up funds.