Brexit: nurse MP Maria Caulfield resigns from senior post over Chequers agreement
Posted 11 July 2018 - 10:21
Nurse Tory MP resigns party role as Nursing Standard-Sunday Mirror survey shows nurses are divided over Brexit
Nurse MP Maria Caulfield has quit her role in the Conservative Party in protest at the prime minister’s Brexit plan.
Ms Caulfield, MP for Lewes in East Sussex, said prime minister Theresa May’s proposal did not ‘fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide’ and would result in a Labour government.
Positive opportunities
The cancer nurse who worked at the Royal Marsden in London and has kept up her registration since becoming an MP in 2015, previously told Nursing Standard podcast she believed Brexit presented opportunities.
Nurses divided on Brexit
A Nursing Standard-Sunday Mirror poll of more than 3,000 nurses found opinion is split on the effect of Brexit on the NHS. Around 40% of respondents said Brexit would damage the health service; almost an equal proportion believed the opposite, and the rest were unsure.
Ms Caulfield’s resignation as Conservative Party vice-chair for women came at the same time as fellow vice-chair Ben Bradley stepped down from his role.
Both left their posts a day after foreign secretary Boris Johnson quit the cabinet, to be replaced by former health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt.
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