DARLINGTON MP and former health secretary Alan Milburn insists he has “unfinished business”

after announcing his intention to stand down to local party members at a hastily-convened meeting on Saturday morning.

He said he had been considering the decision for a long time and wanted to pursue other challenges and spend more time with his family.

He said: “I left frontline ministerial politics, and have not wished to return, because I wanted to have a different way of life.

“I have never regretted doing so. At the next election, I will be in my early 50s.”

In an exclusive interview with The Northern Echo, Mr Milburn refuted allegations that his decision was timed to come only days before MPs have to disclose details of private sector work.

Before he leaves his post, he wants to bring the university campus to Darlington and is determined to pursue his seatbelt campaign.

Mr Milburn’s first political campaign was to help the family of Michael Gibson, who died after being in a coma for more than a year.

He is now helping another family, whose son Peter Williams died when his tanker plunged off a bridge, to make it law for all lorries to have seatbelts fitted.

He said: “The seatbelt campaign takes me back to my beginning.

The Michael Gibson case was a terrible local tragedy which resulted in the law being changed and I am proud to have played a part in that.”

Mr Milburn, from Tow Law, County Durham, has served as Darlington MP for 17 years.

He served in Tony Blair’s cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury and as health secretary for four years.

He retired from the cabinet citing family reasons and sat on the backbenches, although he briefly returned ahead of the 2005 election.

Mr Milburn said: “I decided to make this announcement now so that Darlington Labour Party has ample time to choose a new candidate for the next election.”

A political spokesman for Gordon Brown said Mr Milburn telephoned the Prime Minister on Saturday to inform him of his decision.

He said: “Gordon thanked Alan for his many years’ service to the country and the Labour Party and wished him well for the future.”

The Labour Party nationally must decide whether to have an open or closed shortlist before local members vote on a successor.

Neil Foster, who stood against William Hague in Richmond in 2005, has already suggested he may stand. Darlington party member Nick Wallis, who stood as an MEP this month, said it was too early to comment.

Liberal Democrat candidate Mike Barker, who criticised Mr Milburn in a letter on Friday, said he believed Mr Brown’s decision to clamp down on MPs’ second earnings had prompted the announcement.

He said: “Alan Milburn has displayed his usual good timing by announcing he will be standing down just before the publication of the full details of MPs’ outside earnings.

“I think the publication of these figures will prove to be a major embarrassment for the local Labour Party and would have put Alan under great pressure from the electorate to explain how he could possibly represent his constituents properly while earning so much money from outside interests.”

Tory candidate Edward Legard said the decision came “as little surprise”.

He added: “Ultimately, it makes no difference who stands as Labour candidate for Darlington at the next election.

“We are witnessing the final death throes of this Government, a government bereft of ideas and one which has brought our country to the brink of bankruptcy.”