UK: Former health minister will not run for re-election

Former British health minister Matt Hancock said this week that he would not be running again for parliament in the next general election. Hancock is also among the growing number of Conservative lawmakers that will not be running again in the next election cycle.

Hancock said Wednesday that he would not be running for parliament again in the next election. In his letter of resignation to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Hancock said that the Conservative Party made it clear that he would be re-admitted in time after getting suspended by the party back in November for participating in the reality show “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” where he finished third. However, Hancock said that running again for parliament was no longer necessary.

“It has been a huge honor to serve as Member of Parliament for West Suffolk over the past twelve years,” wrote Hancock in the letter he also posted on Twitter.

“The Conservative Party must now reconnect with the public we serve. There was a time I thought the only way to influence the public debate was in Parliament, but I realized there’s far more to it than that. I have increasingly come to believe that for a healthy democracy we must find new ways to reach people – especially those disengaged with politics,” wrote Hancock.

Hancock was forced to resign in 2021 after violating social distancing rules. During his time as the country’s health minister, Hancock was criticized for his response at the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hancock is among the growing number of Conservative lawmakers who will not be seeking re-election in the coming general elections in 2024. The governing party is predicted to lose power as the opposition Labour appears to be ahead by 20 percentage points in opinion polls.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer pledged that the party would cooperate with businesses to boost economic growth, as he criticized the current Conservative government for failing the public with its “sticking plaster politics.”

The pledge comes as the Labour Party is framing itself to be the government in waiting, anticipating to take power by 2024 from the Conservatives that Starmer described as having overseen 10 years of chaos and an inability to tackle major issues in the country.