I'm A Celebrity: Furious councillors call for MP Matt Hancock to resign ahead of show's launch

Furious councillors in Matt Hancock's West Suffolk constituency have written to the MP calling for him to resign ahead of the launch of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Members of Haverhill Town Council said they had lost confidence in the former health secretary, saying his actions had "made it clear to everyone that you see your future outside of politics".

Mr Hancock has previously defended his decision to join the ITV reality show set in Australia, telling The Sun newspaper that it was a "powerful tool" to reach young people.

But town councillors in Haverhill, the largest town in the West Suffolk constituency, say they have been left without anyone to represent them in Westminster.

Cllr Bruce Davidson, Mayor of Haverhill, said: "I think this is the last straw really - that he has decided that going on a reality TV programme is much, much more important than his constituents in West Suffolk.

"That's why the town council is taking this fairly unprecedented step to say we've just got no confidence left in you and we're asking you to resign."

Councillor Pat Hanlon, Labour Group Leader on Haverhill Town Council, said: "We're very angry because of the fact he's gone in there and he's not doing his day job.

"He's not doing his job looking after the people of Haverhill [and] that's who we represent as a town council.

"It's just the anger that we've been getting from people as councillors and we all decided to write this letter.

"I think we all agree that he should stand down and give someone else a chance to represent us.

"If he wants to get on with that, being a celebrity, it's up to him, but not at the detriment of the people of Haverhill."

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! starts on Sunday 6th November at 9pm on ITV

Haverhill Town Council's letter to Matt Hancock in full

By a majority vote the Members of Haverhill Town Council have directed me to express their displeasure at your decision to absent yourself from your duty to your constituents, to join the cast of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.

At a time when unprecedented cost-of-living pressures on your residents are causing real hardship to them, and we have a failing health service locally with appalling ambulance response times, the energy crisis causing schools and other public services severe issues in maintaining services, my Members believe we need all hands on deck to fight our corner.

Currently there is nobody to speak for West Suffolk in the House of Commons and your actions are unlikely to gain any sympathy for West Suffolk when all the other parliamentarians are in the chamber fighting their own corners.

By your actions you have made it clear to everyone that you see your future outside of politics. My Members ask that you do the honourable thing and resign your seat, so you can follow your chosen path and clear the pitch for someone who wants to serve the people of West Suffolk.

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