LAURA Pidcock has resigned from the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party due to it becoming “hostile territory for socialists.”

In a statement on Twitter, the former MP for North West Durham said that she had “sadly come to the conclusion” that she could not serve on the NEC any longer.

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Ms Pidcock, a supporter of ex-labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said that the party "did not know exactly how Keir Starmer would handle matters within the party.”

She said Mr Starmer's appointment resulted in “a barrage of top-down changes which is making it hostile territory for socialists, from those of us on the NEC, to those in CLPs across the country.”

The former MP continued to say that her “deep unease” was “crystallised” after a Tory MP was cheered while crossing the floor in the House of Commons, claiming he was "an MP who has voted against everything we believe in.”

Ms Pidcock said: “What I Immediately felt was pain for all of those who are forced to use food banks, all of those who are going through the punitive ‘social security’ system, for all of the amazing activists protesting against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

“Some of the many reasons why this whooping by elected representatives of my own party, on that day, was so inappropriate and jarring for so many.”

She added that the leadership of the Labour party was also “devoid of ideas, lacking vision” and she “can’t and won’t negotiate with these people anymore.”

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She also claimed the party had reportedly “demoralised thousands of people who were awakened to politics for the first time in their life.”

Speaking on the Conservative Government Mrs Pidcock said the party was “entrenching the hostile environment.”

She added: “When there is so much devastation caused by this Government and the economic system we live under, when poverty is endemic, when people are hungry, when finance capital is tightening its grip on the NHS…we cannot go on, giving our energy to people who want to block fundamental, positive change."

Ms Pidcock continues to serve as National Secretary of the People’s Assembly where she is, according to her statement, developing plans to “build the broadest possible coalition against the Government.”

Ms Pidcock sat as an MP for North West Durham from 2017 until she lost her seat to the Conservatives in 2019.

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The former MP was a member Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and after losing her seat, she ran for a place on the NEC, saying she hoped to offer “a bridge from Corbynism to what we expected to be the next stage” for the party.

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