Communities secretary Blears quits cabinet

The minister in charge of the Communities and Local Government department has announced she is resigning from the cabinet.

Hazel Blears said she wants to return to ‘grassroots’ politics, and would be ‘redoubling’ her efforts to speak for the people of her Salford constituency.

Ms Blear has been communities secretary since June 2007. She had recently been embroiled in the expenses row, and repaid £13,000 after it was disclosed that she had claimed second home allowances on three properties in a year.

She also wrote a newspaper article that was perceived as critical of prime minister Gordon Brown’s attempts to reach out to the public through video website Youtube.

In the wake of the expenses revelations, Mr Brown said her behaviour had been ‘totally unacceptable’, and her cabinet position was already in doubt ahead of a ministerial reshuffle expected after local and European elections being held tomorrow.

In her resignation statement Ms Blears said: ‘My politics has always been rooted in the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, given the right support and encouragement.

‘The role of a progressive government should be to pass power to the people. I’ve never sought high office for the sake of it, or for what I can gain, but for what I can achieve for the people I represent and serve.’

Mr Brown said he understood Ms Blears’ decision, and that she had made an ‘outstanding contribution to public life’.