Nadine Dorries has 'abandoned' Mid Bedfordshire voters - council

A second council has urged Nadine Dorries to immediately step down as Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, saying she had "abandoned the local area".

Shefford Town Council has written to Ms Dorries accusing her of having "scant interest" in her constituency.

In July, Flitwick Town Council also urged the former minister to resign.

Ms Dorries announced in June she would quit after she failed to receive a peerage, but she has yet to formally do so. She has been contacted for comment.

"Nine weeks have now passed and you have not resigned," said Shefford Town Council in a letter, which it has also published on X (formerly Twitter).

The town's mayor, Ken Pollard, told the BBC her constituency office in Shefford closed down a few years ago and was now a dance studio.

"It got to the point where it was difficult to contact Nadine on any level," he said.

The council also raised questions about Ms Dorries's commitment to her role as MP, as she had not spoken in the Commons since July 2022 and last voted in April.

The letter, signed by Mr Pollard, raised the "town's concerns and frustration" at the "continuing lack of representation for the people of Mid Bedfordshire".

It also accused Ms Dorries of an "aversion to attending local events or services".

"In her early years she was very much a constituency MP," Mr Pollard told the BBC. "But over the years it has been more and more difficult to contact Nadine."

"Effectively since lockdown ended, we haven't had representation at government level," he added.

Mr Pollard told the BBC that Shefford and Flitwick were not alone in wanting Ms Dorries to quit and allow for a by-election.

"There is a very strong feeling amongst the councils within Mid Bedfordshire that she should follow through on her resignation," he said.

It had become a joke among local politicians, said Mr Pollard.

"Mayors often get invited to the same events and Nadine does come up. It's a little bit of a joke between us.

"'Has anyone seen Nadine recently?' The answer is always 'no', or 'Nadine who?'."

Shefford Town Council said the move was not political and it was acting "regardless of party politics".

"Our residents desperately need effective representation now," it said.

Former Shefford town councillor Chris Steeples agreed with the letter.

"I've had enough of her," he said. "She needs to be doing this job. Not every other job that she's doing.

"It's not appropriate for her to be sitting in the background saying nothing, doing nothing, being nowhere and getting paid for it," he added.

Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant has proposed tabling a motion in Parliament requiring an MP to attend the Commons.

He suggested that if they failed to do so they could be found in contempt and face suspension and a by-election.

Ms Dorries was a health minister and then secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Parliament's summer recess is due to end at the start of September.

Listen to BBC Three Counties' latest Mid Bedfordshire by-election podcast with Amy Holmes here.

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